TLK 4 Prepare For War
by Chika135
Summary: Dima and her friends grow to be young adolescents. While growing up Dima and Chika's hearts have mended slightly over the loss of Jao. But when Jao escapes with the love of his life coming along he brings bad news of war. Will the pride lands be taken over? Who did Daren and his two brothers call in for help?
1. Come Home Jao

**Here's the sequel! Some time has passed over the pride lands from the end of my first story and this one. And in this story the lions in the pride don't really pay much attention to relation like cousins and aunts and uncles the only relation they pay attention to is sister and brother or father and daughter or vice versa. Now that some of the explaining is over enjoy the story!**

Many moons had passed over the pride lands without hide or hair of the river pride and Daren and his brothers. Dima and her friends were young adolescents. It was night fall and Dima was currently lying on the top of pride rock thinking of Jao.

"Jao? Are you looking at the same stars I am? I miss you so much." Dima sighed.

Dima sat and looked at the stars for a while when eventually she fell fast asleep.

"Safi we need to see Rafiki. This is crazy we've been trying for months. Mom and Kovu said when an heir is born from us we can have the throne. Something has to be wrong." Kione insisted.

"Fine let's go." Safi mumbled. Safi and Kione rushed to Rafiki's tree. As they got there Kione leaned his front paws on the tree.

"Hey Rafiki we need your help." Kione called.

"Kione! I haven't seen you in so long!" Rafiki smiled.

"We have a problem." Kione sighed.

"What's going on?" Rafiki inquired.

"We've been trying to have a cub for months and we haven't been successful." Kione said with a hint of embarrassment.

"Come up." Rafiki ordered. Safi and Kione climbed up the tree which Kione found quite difficult but eventually got up into the tree. Rafiki took a sample of Kione's DNA and told them to come back later.

"How come she didn't have to do any tests?" Kione asked.

"Because if we test you and something is wrong then we know that Safi doesn't have the problem but if there's something wrong with you then we know that Safi is fine." Rafiki explained.

"Well thank you Rafiki this has been very awkward but we'll come back tomorrow to see the results." Safi thanked.

"Have a nice day you two!" Rafiki called. Safi and Kione walked back to pride rock discussing random things.

"No I love you more." Tavi cooed.

"No I love _you _more!" Baya laughed. Dima groaned she was tired of hearing this shit. For about the fifth time Baya started to say I love you more.

"Hey you guys guess what?" Dima smiled.

"What?" Baya asked.

"Shut the fuck up." Dima said flatly.

"Oh Dima you just don't know how it feels to be in love." Baya sighed.

"Oh Jesus help me." Dima muttered. Ruko laughed at Dima's blunt personality.

"Shit! Dima we have hunting lessons today!" Baya suddenly yelled.

"Oh god go run!" Dima ordered. The girls said bye to both Ruko and Tavi and ran as fast as they could to pride rock.

"Ladies you're late." Chika scolded.

"Sorry mom." Dima apologized.

"Follow me." Chika muttered. Chika and Dotty were the hunting teachers for Baya and Dima. It was the start of a long afternoon of hunting lessons. Buru was taking a long walk around the borders by himself when he heard Kovu roar from pride rock, signaling a meeting. Buru gathered at the bottom of pride rock with the rest of the pride.

"We want to announce that Kiara is going to have another cub." Kovu started. The pride roared and cheered at this excitement.

"You're all excused." Kovu dismissed. The pride started to go back to doing whatever they were before the announcement was made muttering things like "What great news".

"I think you girls have learned enough for today and the sun is starting to set so we'll be hunting soon, you girls are welcome to watch the hunt for tips from a reasonable distance." Chika advised.

"Alright we will mom." Dima said. The hunting party set out and Baya and Dima followed from a reasonable distance. They both noted how to stalk correctly and how to pounce and bite. Later that evening the hunting party brought in an old zebra for dinner. As night fell everyone turned in either in the den or just outside the den.

Morning came quickly for Safi and Kione.

"Common Kione get up we have to go see Rafiki!" Safi insisted.

"Ok ok I'm up." Kione said groggily. Safi and Kione walked over to the tree Rafiki stayed in.

"Hey Rafiki! We're here!" Kione yelled.

"I'm afraid I have bad news, Kione everything is fine with you but Safi I'm afraid the problem is with you. You two won't be able to have a cub together. I'm very sorry Kione maybe you could get another lioness to bear your cub." Rafiki suggested.

"I know who I'll ask." Kione said simply. Safi felt useless after hearing that so she buried her head in Kione's black mane. The two thanked Rafiki and headed back to pride rock.

"Who did you think of for having your cub?" Safi asked quietly.

"Don't worry it's someone I could _never _have feelings for." Kione assured.

"You didn't answer me." Safi muttered.

"I'm going to ask Chika." Kione stated.

"Kione no that would be so _gross_!" Safi shouted, "She's your sister!"

"I know, I know! But she's always been there for me and I think she might do this favor for me if I tell her the circumstances." Kione explained.

"Ok whatever do what you want." Safi mumbled while shaking her head.

"Hey plenty of lions in other prides do stuff like this." Kione tried to get rid of the embarrassment but it wasn't working. As they got to pride rock Kione went to find Chika.

"Hey Chika can I ask you to do a favor for me?" Kione asked as he found his sister grooming her paw in a warm patch of sunshine.

"What is it Kione?" Chika asked.

"I want to ask you to carry my cub now hear me out Chika, there's something wrong with Safi and we need to find a lioness to bear my cub." Kione explained.

"I'll do it but just because you're my brother and I want to help." Chika answered.

"Thank you Chika." Kione smiled. Later that day Chika conveniently came into season. Chika searched for Kione who was at the waterhole.

"Kione!" Chika called. Kione walked over to Chika and knew that it was time for an awkward mating session. Kione and Chika went to a secluded place and mated for as long as they had to.

"Ok I'm gonna go now I think just once will be enough." Kione sighed suddenly feeling very awkward around his sister.

"Yeah once was enough to get Dima and … Jao." Chika said quietly.

"It's ok to remember Jao." Kione whispered, "Sometimes I think about him."

Chika muttered something Kione couldn't understand and walked away.

"I have to get her scent off of me." Kione grumbled in a voice of horror. Kione washed up in the waterhole and went back to Safi.

"So is an heir created?" Safi asked with a smirk making Kione feel really embarrassed all over again.

"Please I never want to talk about that again." Kione grumbled causing Safi to laugh out loud.

"I have to go I'm going to teach Tavi, Ruko, Baya, and Dima about God." Safi said with a giggle.

"See you later." Kione called as Safi walked out of the den. About a week passed by and Chika confirmed that in about two and a half months an heir would be born. The pride accepted that Chika was the mother of her brother's cub or cubs with a bit of difficulty. But no one could object since it had already been done. Chika, Buru, and Dima were all talking peacefully under a shady tree.

"Buru will you quit trying to hear the cub?!" Chika asked with a laugh.

"No last time it worked!" Buru insisted with a smile.

"The cub won't even be able to kick until a few weeks anyways so you're wasting your time." Chika smiled.

"Fine." Buru grinned while lifting his head from Chika's stomach.

"Hey dad let's wrestle like we used to!" Dima offered while standing up and raising her rear end in the air and lashing her tail side to side.

"You really want me to beat you?" Buru smiled, "Fine punk."

Dima laughed and pounced at Buru. Buru blocked Dima and tried to wrestle her to the ground, but Dima was strong like most of her relatives and wriggled out of Buru's attempts. Finally Buru had Dima pinned and Dima struggled to get up.

"Fine dad you win." Dima growled playfully. Buru smiled and licked Dima's head and let her up.

"Told you you'd get beat." Buru smiled.

"Whatever, you just barely beat me." Dima argued.

"Someday Dima will take you down." Chika grinned.

"Yeah listen to mom she's always right." Dima laughed.

"Your mother's full of-"Buru was cut off by a loud roar.

"That's Kovu he's calling a meeting." Chika stated the obvious.

"Thank you captain obvious." Buru smirked.

"You're welcome sergeant sarcasm." Chika smiled. Buru smiled at Chika and lovingly head butted her.

"Y'all coming?" Chika asked.

"Mom you go ahead we'll meet you there." Dima said.

"Alright." Chika said while taking off towards pride rock.

"Why didn't we just go with her?" Buru asked curiously.

"I wanted to ask you something." Dima started.

"What is it?" Buru asked.

"Do you love mom? Like as in want to be her mate?" Dima asked bravely.

"How did you know?" Buru asked quietly.

"I can just see it in your eyes; you look at her like Grandpa Looks at Grandma." Dima answered referring to Hani and Bella.

"You're very observant but to answer your question yes I love your mother very much." Buru smiled at his "Daughter's" smart way of noticing little things.

"Why don't you tell her?" Dima questioned.

"I've always been afraid she'll tell me she doesn't feel the same way and we'll feel awkward around each other." Buru explained.

"Take a chance I mean do you really want to die not knowing how mom feels about you?" Dima asked.

"Fine but only because you talked me into it." Buru smiled.

"We should go before they start the meeting without us." Dima said

"Ok." Buru agreed.

"We're going to start a daily training, this pride needs to gain some muscle. Hani will be leading these and everyone will train every other day." Kovu announced, "The only ones who won't be training are those who are pregnant, Kiara, Binta, and Chika. There are 27 lions counting myself so you thirteen will be day one with me and the rest of you will be on day two."

Some lions looked excited about the training and others looked irritated.

"You're all dismissed training will start tomorrow morning at dawn." Kovu finished. Tavi and Ruko were excited that they were on the same training day they also trained with Kovu, Buru, Akida, Solo, and Kione. It seemed like most all the guys were on the same day along with a few lionesses. Day two was made up of all girls which Tavi and Ruko found funny. Later that day Chika went to see Kamau; she hadn't seen him in about a week.

"Hey Kamau." Chika greeted.

"Hi Chika I was afraid you didn't like me anymore." Kamau joked, "Hmm now what's different about you? You're pregnant, again."

"Yep, I did my brother a favor when his mate wasn't able to have cubs." Chika explained with a smile.

"Oh well that was nice I guess." Kamau sighed, "So did you come to do a little training?"

"Yeah so let's get to it." Chika grinned. Later that day Tavi, Ruko, Dima, and Baya were lounging in a warm patch of sunshine talking about the training the next day.

"I can't wait! I wish we could train tomorrow like you guys." Baya said.

"Ha-ha! We get to train first when we get back from training tomorrow we'll tell you how it went." Ruko smiled. 

"Isis you need to come with me, you'll be safe with me." Jao insisted, "I promise to take care of you we can go to the pride lands, I have to warn them of the attack. If you stay here they'll hurt you into telling them where I went."

"Fine I trust you to take care of me but when will we leave?" Isis asked. She was the love of Jao's life; she had rounded cheeks, fiery red eyes, a brown pelt, and a bright red tail tip.

"Tonight we'll break free; it'll take us two weeks if we travel without stopping often we can make it in two weeks." Jao answered.

"Let's do this." Isis said with determination. In the pride lands everyone was getting ready for bed while Kione was checking in on Chika.

"Are you sure everything is normal?" Kione asked.

"Yes everything is fine now go to bed!" Chika laughed while pushing Kione softly towards Safi.

"Ok fine goodnight my little unborn cub." Kione cooed in baby talk to Chika stomach. Chika smiled and rolled her eyes.

"We made it!" Jao whispered in excitement to Isis as they passed the border and ran as fast as they could down south towards the pride lands. The two laughed for they had escaped hell successfully. Their laughter fueled their speed and determination they ran nonstop.

"I'm coming home Mama!" Jao yelled. Isis laughed loudly at Jao's enthusiasm.

"We've escaped hell!" Isis cheered. Dima was on the peak of pride rock at the dead of night like usual before she went to bed.

"Come home Jao." Dima whispered.


	2. Looking For Trouble

**One thing I'd like to address is if any of y'all had confusion about how Rafiki figured out something was wrong with S afi well I don't know use your imagination! Ok so here's chapter two! **

"I have food." Isis said as she woke up Jao and dropped a dead warthog at his paws.

"You eat first." Jao yawned and pushed the warthog towards Isis.

"I already ate something." Isis argued and pushed the warthog back to Jao.

"Alrighty then." Jao said as he dug into the fresh warthog carcass. In the pride lands Naja and Runako were taking a walk.

"So why did you run away?" Naja asked.

"I was scared and I wasn't ready for you to know my feelings for you." Runako answered, "But I'm ready now."

Naja simply licked Runako's cheek.

"I'm yours." Naja whispered in Runako's ear. Runako scented Naja. _She's in season!_ Runako thought. Naja walked in front of Runako and flipped her tail under his chin leading him into a thicket.

"Runako you're late for training by an hour! Catch up with what we've been doing and jog through those woods without stopping until you get to the river then keep jogging on the trail until you come back around." Hani growled.

"Yes sir! I'm very sorry sir." Runako apologized nervously.

"Um dad?" Tavi spoke quietly.

"Don't interrupt me during training! When I'm training y'all I am not your friend, I am not your dad, I am your training instructor! After training I will again be your friend or family." Hani snarled, "Like I was saying before I was interrupted _twice_ I will demon straight a correct paw swipe."

Hani raised his right paw and quickly swiped his paw through the air about chest high. Ruko noted to never challenge Hani. Hani had the group swiping both of their paws like he did 50 times. Then they each did 20 push-ups and at about midday everyone was dismissed except for Runako who had to catch up on the hour he missed while jogging through woods.

"So boys how was training?" Dima smirked.

"Tiring my father is now scary on a number of levels." Tavi groaned in exhaustion.

"Really that bad huh? Want us to get you some of the meat from today's hunt?" Dima laughed.

"Yes please." Ruko answered politely. The girls quickly got the boys some meat and watched then gobble it down.

"Well y'all went through that fast." Dima muttered. Tavi and Ruko were too tired to even reply and soon they fell fast asleep.

"Let's let them sleep and go talk somewhere else." Baya whispered. Dima agreed and the girls went to the northern border to hang out.

"Wow it's cool over here! This meadow is so pretty!" Baya said in awe.

"I know!" Dima laughed.

"You know it's nice to finally have some girl time I mean we're always with the boys and now we can just hang out, just us girls." Baya smiled.

"Yeah I guess but what else can we do that we can't do when the boys are here?" Dima asked skeptically.

"What else!? We talk about boys!" Baya exclaimed.

"Oh Baya I love you." Dima sighed while shaking her head.

"So do you like Ruko or what!?" Baya asked excitedly.

"No I like him like he's a good friend and all but I just don't have romantic feelings for him." Dima explained.

"You have to like someone! Is it Solo?" Baya excitedly asked.

"No."

"Buru?"

"He's my dad!"

"Oh right, is it Akida?!"

"No."

"Runako?"

"No! Baya I don't like anyone!" Dima yelled with a laugh.

"Fine, fine to tell you the truth I think me and Tavi won't be together for much longer." Baya confided sadly.

"Why did you guys get into a fight?" Dima asked.

"No I just don't like him as much as I used to." Baya sighed.

"Why you seem to have the perfect boyfriend he's so sweet and he's always telling you he loves you! You have it made!" Dima lashed out in anger.

"Wow Dima relax I'm just not feeling the spark anymore and it's kinda annoying how he tells me how much he loves me I mean he's a guy they lie all the time!" Baya defended herself.

"Ugh I can't believe you!" Dima growled as she walked past her "friend". Baya didn't follow after Dima she just let her go. Dima didn't know what was going on, she felt very irritable, sad, and lonely. So Dima went to her mother.

"Mom can I ask you something?" Dima asked when she found her mother alone under a shady tree.

"Sure you can Dima." Chika smiled at her daughter. Dima sat next to Chika and took a breath.

"I've been really moody lately and I feel lonely do you know what's going on?" Dima asked. Chika quickly scented her daughter and smiled.

"You're having your first season." Chika explained with a smile that said my daughter is growing up.

"Oh I remember that's when you, me, and Buru took that walk and you guys talked to me about that." Dima recalled.

"Yes now Dima I want you to go find a hideout where no one will find you so you won't get pregnant." Chika advised, "Trust me being an early mother ain't easy."

"Fine but what about training tomorrow? I'll miss out." Dima whined.

"Don't worry I'll cover for you." Chika said.

"Thanks mom, I'll be back when it's over." Dima grinned. Only Dima wasn't going to find a hideout, she was looking for Tavi or in other words she was looking for trouble. Dima didn't have to look far to find Tavi. He was in the same resting spot he had been in after training only Ruko was gone.

"Tavi can I have a word with you?" Dima whispered in Tavi's ear.

"Sure Dima." Tavi replied. Dima led Tavi to a secluded area of thick bushes.

"Look I talked to Baya today and she doesn't feel the spark with you anymore. She's thinking of ending it, she don't love you. I'm in season we could make beautiful cubs together and you can really show Baya. What do you say?" Dima offered. Tavi had a look of hurt in his eyes then anger.

"I can't it's not you I just don't think it would be fair to Baya, I'm sorry Dima." Tavi said with no expression, for his smile was broken and unable to come out for a long time.

"I understand but if you change your mind I'll be here." Dima said softly.

"I'll keep that in mind." Tavi spoke without making eye contact for his mind was somewhere else at the moment.

Kali was lying by the waterhole with Akida and Binta asking Binta all kinds of questions about being pregnant.

"Have you felt the cub kick yet?" Kali asked Binta. Binta laughed at Kali's excitement.

"It's too early for the little one to kick, one afternoon a rouge thought I wasn't pregnant and even tried to pick me up!" Binta laughed. Kali and Akida joined in on her laughter. Binta was a rather attractive lioness with a grey pelt, freckles, a dark grey tail tip, and grey eyes.

"Oh I guess I was jumping the gun." Kali smiled.

"It won't be long until you and Akida have a little cub." Binta teased.

"Maybe someday right now he says he's enjoying his young days." Kali giggled while looking up at the tall lion sitting next to her.

"Well when you have cubs it puts some grey in your mane!" Akida exclaimed in defense.

"You already have a big clump of grey in your mane!" Kali laughed pawing at Akida's naturally grey part of his mane.

"That's naturally grey!" Akida laughed.

"Right…" Kali said sarcastically. Binta laughed at the young couple.

"Run Isis I'll hold 'em off!" Jao shouted. Jao and Isis were closer to the pride lands and they ran into 4 angry hyenas.

"No I'm helping you, we're in this together." Isis argued.

"Fine." Jao gave in. One of the hyenas cackled and pounced at Isis. Jao reacted fast and tried to intercept it but 3 other hyenas pounced at him before he had the chance. Jao tumbled with the three hyenas his father had trained him well in fighting at the River Pride and he easily killed 2 of them but the 3rd hyena was bigger and stronger. The last hyena gave Jao a few large wounds but he was in worse condition than Jao. Finally Jao had him beat and he retreated with his tail between his legs. Jao looked over and saw Isis terribly wounded and being tormented by the two hyenas. Jao was there in an instant roaring and slashing the hyenas to death. When Jao finished them off he went to tend to Isis. She was bleeding from several places and looked exhausted.

"Isis, how bad are you hurt?" Jao asked.

"Jao I don't think I can make it, go on without me. But I want you to know I love you." Isis mumbled her voice barely there.

"No Isis you can't do this, we're only an hour away from the pride lands I'll carry you there. I love you too much to leave you." Jao insisted. Isis gave Jao a small smile.

"If it means that much to you get us to the pride lands." Isis ordered. Jao smiled and got Isis on his back.

"Stay with me keep talking." Jao demanded.

"Ok did you get rid of all those hyenas?" Isis asked weakly.

"Yes I made them pay for what they did to you don't worry." Jao answered. Isis and Jao kept talking until they came to the northern border of the pride lands.

"We're here, I'm home." Jao muttered.

"Thank God." Isis uttered breathlessly.

"Don't worry we'll get help for you I promise." Jao vowed.

**A/N I have a poll on my profile so please vote while it's open! And sorry this chapter's kinda short and cliffhanger-y gotta keep y'all wondering!**


	3. It Was You

Dima was sleeping in her hiding place when she heard the sound of struggling outside the bushes. _Is that Jao's scent? No it can't be, but I have to see what's going on. _Dima thought to herself. Dima poked her head out of the bushes and choked on her own spit at what she saw, not only was it her brother covered in deep wounds but there was a badly hurt lioness on his back.

"Jao! Oh lord is it really you?!" Dima shouted as she instantly started to cry.

"Dima! My sister, my grown sister!" Jao cried and ran up to his sister, nearly dropping Isis. The brother-sister pair nuzzled and dried each other's tears.

"Jao I'm sorry to interrupt your reunion but I kinda need help here." Isis wheezed.

"Sorry Isis Dima can you lead us to the den? Isis and I got attacked by hyenas." Jao explained.

"Of course Jao we can talk later." Dima said. The three walked as fast as they could to pride rock. When they came in they got a bunch of greetings and tears.

"Please My mate, Isis needs help I'll talk later but please she's barely alive." Jao pleaded. Bella ran out of the den to get Rafiki and Dotty, a lioness hurt this bad would need two medical experts. Jao laid Isis in the back of the den and licked her wounds clean.

"Is it true is my baby home?!" Chika called as she came into the den with Buru. Jao turned around at his mother's unforgettable voice, he took in the sight of his mother and father, they had aged but they certainly weren't old. Chika saw her adolescent son and the tears started pouring. Chika ran into the den towards her son.

"Mama it's you, Oh I love you I've missed you." Jao cried. Chika sobbed into her son's neck, Jao was very big, taller than his mother. Chika put her paw on her son's back and nuzzled Jao numerous times.

"Oh Jao do these wounds hurt? Are you okay? Did he hurt you? I love you sweetie." Chika sobbed.

"Mom I'm fine." Jao sighed Jao licked his mother's tears away from her beautiful face.

"Who is this Jao?" Chika asked gesturing to Isis who was sitting up and smiling at Jao's reunion with his mother.

"Mom this is my mate, Isis, Isis this is my mother." Jao introduced. As the two lionesses exchanged hellos Dotty and Rafiki burst into the den. Rafiki had herbs and Dotty had a turtle shell with some kind of liquid in it. Baya was trailing close behind Dotty so she could learn how to take care of wounded lions.

"Dear drink this it'll make the stinging stop." Dotty ordered. Isis nodded and obeyed. After about a minute the stinging stopped and she looked at what the grey baboon was doing to her wounds. Within moments Isis was covered in herbs and was told to rest and try not to move.

"Chika you're on the hunting team today." A lioness called, "You too Dotty."

"I can't hunt today can someone fill in for me? I need to look after this lioness."

"I can hunt, even though I'm a guy I've had hunting lessons." Jao offered. The lioness nodded and motioned Chika and Jao to follow her. The hunting team brought down an okapi and a young gazelle. Jao came into the den to see Dotty smiling at him.

"I brought some meat for Isis is she okay?" Jao asked.

"Yes she just has some deep wounds all over her body but they will heal, she has no broken bones or internal damage, she will be fine." Dotty smiled. Jao was overjoyed that his love would soon recover.

"Is she awake?" Jao asked.

"Yes you can come talk to her if you wish." Dotty said. Jao nodded and walked up to the brown lioness he was very much in love with.

"Isis I brought you some food would you like that?" Jao asked quietly.

"Oh Jao I was having such a weird dream, I'd love some food thank you." Isis replied in a blur. Jao nudged the okapi leg closer to Isis. Isis immediately started chomping down on the large chunk of meat. Jao looked out on the entrance the sky beginning to darken and many lions and lionesses began to lie down and get ready for bed. One lioness that Jao wanted to talk to the most was not in the den, it was Dima. _Where is she? _Jao asked himself. Isis had fallen asleep almost as soon as soon as she finished her meat, as Isis slept she awkwardly cuddled with the okapi bone. Jao quietly exited the den in search of his sister. On his way out of the den he bumped into Ruko.

"Jao! It's you, I heard a few lionesses saying you came back but I just thought it was too good to be true!" Ruko exclaimed.

"Ruko! It's great to see you too and hey I have to find Dima do you know where she is?" Jao asked.

"Go behind pride rock and head straight, you'll see a cave it's impossible to miss she's in there." Ruko directed.

"Why is she sleeping in there?" Jao asked.

"She's in season." Ruko explained shortly.

_*Flashback*_

"_You'll know when you smell it when a female's in season she'll have a funny scent on her. And never care if she doesn't want to have cubs, mate with her anyways if you have to beat her into submission just do it." Daren instructed. Jao curled his lip in disgust, Daren had no respect for females, about three females in the pride were pregnant with his cubs and only one of them did it willingly._

"_Do you hear me?!" Daren shouted when Jao didn't reply._

"_Yes sir I'll remember that." Jao replied with fake obedience. That was the day Jao left his Father's pride._

_*End of Flashback*_

"Jao?! Snap out of it bro!" Ruko yelled as he waved his black paw in front of Jao's face.

"Oh sorry I was just thinking of something, but anyways I'll talk to you in the morning, later!" Jao said as he trotted off trying to shake the memories of his Father's stupid advice and rough training. Jao suddenly stopped as he got to the den Dima was hiding in. Jao poked his head in the den and watched Dima. She'd claw at the den wall and then rub against a log that was lying inside. _Maybe I should talk to her when she's not in season... _Jao thought. Jao walked casually back to pride rock and lay down next to Isis near the back of the large den. Jao awoke and saw that all the males in his pride and only a few females were resting. _Where's my Mother? _Jao thought. Jao looked to the lioness in his arms. Isis's wounds had scabbed over and looked as if they'd heal soon. Isis stirred, opened her eyes, and looked up at Jao with love in her eyes.

"Isis, I need to talk to Kovu about the attack it slipped my mind yesterday with all the excitement." Jao explained. Isis nodded. Jao gave Isis an affectionate kiss on the forehead and walked towards Kovu.

"Sorry to wake you your highness but I really need to speak to you." Jao said urgently. Kovu yawned with a loud roar.

"Sure what do you need?" Kovu asked.

"This is something I think we should discuss alone." Jao said.

"Ok, follow me." Kovu said. Kovu led Jao to the very top of pride rock. Kovu wasn't sure if he could trust Chika's son, since he'd been raised by such a brutal Father.

"A war is coming; Daren, Dumaka, and Dau are planning to take the pride lands for themselves. They've taken over the River Pride so they have a big army; there are about 26 lions and lionesses. They're all very muscular from rough training, as you can see their training pays off because all the lions and lionesses look like me and Isis, very muscular. Me and Isis escaped to warn you of their attack." Jao informed. Kovu thought about this for a moment. _26 lions and lionesses as big and muscular as Jao! We'll need to train hard to be ready for this._ Kovu thought.

"Thank you for coming to warn us about this attack, you have a heart of gold even though you were raised by such an evil lion, but we might be able to win this war if you noticed this morning about half the lionesses were at training so maybe if we keep the training going we'll become stronger." Kovu thought out loud to Jao, "You said it took you and Isis a week to get here, and you two hardly rested, how much time you think we have before the war?"

"When me and Isis left they were going to leave in a month so we have about a month and a week before they come because I know they'll rest and it'll probably take two weeks." Jao answered.

"We've got time, you'll see in a months' time this pride will be transformed into fierce warriors." Kovu said with determination.

"I don't doubt it." Jao grinned. Kovu and Jao walked down from the top of pride rock. Even though Kovu was years older than Jao, Jao was still a bit taller than Kovu. A ways away from pride rock Buru and Chika were relaxing and enjoying each other's company under a shady tree.

"Chika?" Buru suddenly asked.

"Hmm?" Chika mumbled contently with her eyes still closed.

"Do you love me? Because I talked to Dima and she told me to ask you I just want to know, because I love _you._" Buru asked. Chika instantly opened her eyes and looked at Buru in shock.

"How come you didn't tell me earlier?" Chika asked without answering Buru.

"I was scared that if I told you, you wouldn't feel the same way and nothing would be the same." Buru answered quietly, "And I hate change."

"Well I'll be honest with you something big is going to change." Chika informed.

"What's gonna change?" Buru asked.

"Us." Chika replied as she moved closer to Buru and nuzzled his mane. Buru was happier knowing Chika returned the feelings; everything seemed to be falling back in place. Buru nuzzled Chika back and smiled.

"Finally, after all this time we're together at last." Buru breathed.

"I knew something was missing but I didn't know what it was until now." Chika sighed, "It was you."

"Do you think we should head back to pride rock? I kinda wanna talk to Jao and catch up." Buru asked.

"Yeah, I wanna talk to him too." Chika replied. The two got up and walked to pride rock in search of Jao. As they climbed pride rock's stair like stones they ran into Jao and Kovu. Kovu greeted them and went to the peak of pride rock and let out a loud roar. Thankfully Hani's training was just being dismissed. And everyone was soon gathered at the bottom of pride rock.

"What's going on Jao?" Chika asked as they gathered below Kovu.

"Just listen he's gonna tell you why me and Isis came home." Jao answered. Kovu quickly explained the upcoming war then he explained what was to happen and how muscular these lions were.

"But with hard training, and determination we will win this war. My land will not fall, our land will not fall." Kovu finished. The lions of the pride roared in agreement. Kovu then dismissed the pride and walked to his wife.

"Jao do wanna come talk with me and your father?" Chika asked.

"Sure can Isis come with? I really want her to meet y'all." Jao asked.

"Of course! Go get her I want to meet her too." Chika ordered. Jao smiled and ran up to pride rock to get Isis.

"Isis wake up!" Jao shouted into the almost empty den.

"Yeah?" Came her reply.

"We're going for a walk with my mom and dad, you should come with us." Jao insisted.

"Alright." Isis agreed nervously. Isis was thrilled that she was finally going to meet Jao's mom and "dad" but she couldn't help feeling nervous that they wouldn't like her. Buru, Chika, Jao, and Isis walked over to the water hole to lay down by a tree and talk.

"So Isis did you always live with Daren's pride?" Chika asked.

"No, me and my mother were nomads before we found Daren's pride. I was only a cub at the time when we joined the terrible pride. Sadly my mother died shortly after we joined the pride because she was an old mother, and being a nomad she didn't have a very healthy diet." Isis answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry you had to go through that sweetheart." Chika apologized with sympathy.

"It's ok, with time I learned to cope with the loss and Jao kinda stepped in for family support and we became friends and eventually mates." Isis purred while nuzzling Jao. Chika smiled at her son's happiness and wished that Dima would find a mate soon.

"Jao you're growing quite the mane there." Buru winked. Jao smiled and puffed out his chest showing off his small tuft of mane. Jao had his head covered in mane, some mane was grown a bit down his neck and he had a small tuft on his chest.

"You know it dad!" Jao playfully smiled.

"My son, all grown up." Chika grinned.

"So mom, you and dad are finally together right?" Jao asked bluntly.

"Together at last." Buru answered while looking into Chika's eyes lovingly. Chika purred quietly. The four talked for some time until they saw the sun going down on the horizon.

"What do you say we head back home?" Buru asked. The three others nodded and agreed that it would be good for them to go home. Jao and Isis walked into the den and instantly they were called over by Ruko. Before going to bed the 5 young adolescents talked and got to know each other. Jao soon slipped into a dreamless sleep.

"Jao wake up you're on day one with me and Tavi." Ruko whispered.

"Training?" Jao mumbled.

**A/N Here's the latest long overdue chapter sorry y'all! Hope you liked it, I know I like hope this chapter goes! Until next time bye!**


	4. New Pride Member

"Yeah, we do training here, my dad's the instructor. Common we're gonna be late." Tavi insisted. Tavi bent down to nuzzle Baya before he left but she hissed and told him she was sleeping and rolled over. Jao got to his paws and followed Ruko and Tavi.

"That was a little harsh." Jao commented.

"I don't wanna be with her anymore." Tavi replied quickly. Ruko and Jao looked at him in shock, but Tavi just stared at his paws with a blank expression.

"Whoa she was just kinda grumpy that's no reason to just be done with her." Ruko said, trying to change his friend's decision.

"You don't get it, she's tired of me she don't want me anymore! I'm tired of being played with!" Tavi exclaimed and then ran off to the eastern border.

"Should we go after him?" Jao asked.

"No give him some time to cool down." Ruko advised. Jao and Ruko arrived just in time and started to jog through the woods with the others. Buru jogged by Ruko and Jao.

"How're you boys holding up?" Buru asked.

"Just fine dad." Jao answered.

"That's good." Buru smiled while speeding up to catch up with Akida, Kione, and Solo.

"Hey, do you know where Tavi is?" Jao asked Ruko, "I'm kinda worried about him."

"He's alone back there; I think we should talk to him after training." Ruko advised.

"Sounds good." Jao replied. The boys stopped chatting after that and jogged in silence. As they got out of the woods they worked on fighting maneuvers and were dismissed by midday. Dima, Baya, and Isis were all lying around and talking.

"So Dima, how come I haven't seen you in the past few days?" Isis asked.

"I was in season, so I've been at my hideout." Dima answered.

"Oh I see, God I hate being in season." Isis commented.

"Same!" Dima agreed.

"Ditto." Baya chimed in.

"When do the boys get out of training?" Isis asked.

"They should be back soon." Baya replied.

"There they are." Dima pointed with her paw over to where the boys were walking towards them. Safi woke with a deep feeling of loneliness she instantly knew she was in season. But this time she wasn't going to spend it alone, she was going to Kione. Safi scented the waterhole for a trace of him and found a recent trail. It led to a tree in a quiet meadow where she found Kione resting.

"Kione wake up." Safi whispered in his ear. Kione stirred and slowly opened his eyes and looked at Safi.

"What is it Safi?" Kione yawned.

"I'm in season and I don't wanna be alone." Safi answered.

"What's the use Safi? We won't be able to have a cub." Kione said.

"What if we're lucky?" Safi insisted, while rubbing her body full length against him. Kione gulped.

"We won't get lucky and besides Chika's already carrying our heir." Kione persisted.

"Common, it won't kill us." Safi persuaded and lay down in front of Kione while brushing her long, puffy tail under his chin. Kione's legs shook with anticipation.

"I guess it wouldn't kill." Kione gave in. Safi and Kione mated for a long time and stayed together in that one spot just talking and enjoying their love. Later that day the 6 young adolescents hung out by the waterhole. Isis and Dima were beginning to get irritated with Baya because she was flirting nonstop with all the boys.

"Jao you're so muscular and handsome." Baya flirted shamelessly.

"Well you know I've been training ever since I was an older cub." Jao smiled, enjoying the attention.

"Wow no wonder you're so strong." Baya giggled.

"Hey slut, he has a mate right here, quit flirting with my brother." Dima ordered, "And you already have a boyfriend."

"I'm not flirting and _**don't **_call me a slut ever again." Baya growled.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Dima scoffed.

"You don't wanna know." Baya snarled. Everyone listened in silence, wondering if Baya would be that bold and fight Dima.

"I think I do... _slut_." Dima smirked. Baya growled and pounced at Dima. The 4 others backed away and gave the fighting girls some space. Dima, having her mother and father's tough genes she held her own and snarled back at Baya. The girls were in a hissing, tumbling, scratching, biting, and hitting match. Dima flipped Baya over and scratched at her chest. Baya screamed in pain and hit Dima over the head. Dima retaliated and hit Baya harder over the head, leaving Baya out cold.

"Baya! Are you okay?" Ruko exclaimed and rushed over to Baya's side and tried to lick her awake. Isis and Jao crowded around Baya too, trying to get her to wake up.

"Dima, are you okay? Does that hurt?" Tavi asked in concern and pointed at a scratch and bite mark on Dima's back. When Dima didn't reply Tavi softly touched her paw with his. Dima flinched with a growl and looked at Tavi.

"Oh sorry, yeah I'm fine." Dima answered. Chika walked over to Rafiki's tree with concern for her unborn cub.

"Rafiki! Are you there?" Chika called.

"Hi Miss Chika, do you need anything?" Rafiki asked.

"Well last time I was pregnant, I was showing by now and it don't look like I'm pregnant at all. Is the cub ok?" Chika asked. Rafiki jumped down from the tree next to Chika.

"Let me check." Rafiki said as he put his fingers to Chika's stomach. Rafiki said nothing as he pressed gently on her stomach. Then a look of sadness came over Rafiki's face.

"I'm sorry Chika but I think the cub didn't make it. This happens a lot but you're still young so I believe you'll still be able to have cubs, you can try again when you're in season next." Rafiki said with sympathy. Chika lowered her head at this news; she was supposed to carry the new heir for her only brother. _Why didn't the cub survive? Was I a bad mother? _Chika asked herself.

"Thank you Rafiki, I have to go back to pride rock, it's about to get dark." Chika thanked.

"You're welcome Chika, I'm very sorry." Rafiki apologized.

"It's fine." Chika said, as she walked towards pride rock. Baya eventually came around and woke up.

"Chika can we talk?" Baya said after a while.

"Yeah, I guess." Chika answered.

"I'm sorry for being such a flirt to a lion who was taken. I didn't know that would bother you and Isis." Baya apologized.

"It's ok, I'm glad you admitted your mistake. And I'm sorry for calling you a slut." Chika apologized back.

"And Isis, I'm sorry for flirting with your mate, I don't know I just find Jao attractive that's all. But I would never try and steal him from you." Baya said with sorry eyes.

"That's ok, just please don't flirt with him again, it bothers me because I can be kinda jealous when it comes to my mate." Isis admitted.

"That's ok, I'd be jealous if I had a mate and someone was flirting with him." Dima tried. The girls all hugged and felt as though everything was ok. About 4 days passed and Kione and Safi were back with the pride. It was early in the morning when Safi woke up. She immediately felt as though something was wrong. Safi ran outside the den and threw up in the bushes. _Am I pregnant!? No, it's not possible I must just be coming down with something…_ Safi thought to herself.

"Safi! I need to talk to you and Kione. Could you go get him?" Chika asked.

"Sure, wait right here." Safi replied. Safi ran into the den to get her mate and walked back to Chika.

"What is it Chika?" Kione immediately asked.

"I talked to Rafiki and he said that I lost the cub." Chika answered quietly. Kione put his paw on Chika's arm for support.

"It's ok Chika, these things happen. Maybe we weren't meant to have a cub." Kione started, "If we don't have an heir by the time the war comes would Jao be willing to be the prince?"

"I'd have to talk to him." Chika answered. Safi took a deep breath.

"Not so fast. I might be pregnant." Safi confessed.

"But Rafiki said-"

"I know, but maybe we got lucky because this morning I got sick and my stomach has been feeling weird ever since my last season that I spent with you." Safi explained to Kione.

"Maybe you two should see Rafiki again and see if you really are pregnant." Chika advised.

"Yeah, let's go." Safi said, "You wanna come with us Chika?"

"No thanks, I'm gonna go see Jao." Chika turned Safi down.

"Alright, see you later." Safi said. Chika walked to pride rock where her son should be sleeping. She entered the den and looked for Jao. She saw that Dima and most of the lionesses were gone training.

"Jao, honey wake up." Chika whispered.

"Hmm? What is it Ma?" Jao asked sleepily.

"Come with me, I want you to meet a friend of mine." Chika smiled.

"Alright let's go." Jao agreed. Jao and Chika walked towards the jungle to meet Kamau. As Chika got into the jungle she called for Kamau and soon enough he jumped down from a nearby tree and grinned as he saw Chika.

"Hi Kamau this is my son Jao." Chika introduced, "Jao this is my trainer and good friend, Kamau."

"Nice to meet you." Jao smiled.

"I see the resemblance between you two." Kamau commented.

"Except I'm not much of a shrimp!" Jao teased. Kamau laughed as Chika smiled and lightly pushed her son.

"So do you guys want to do some training?" Kamau asked.

"Actually I wanted to ask you something." Chika started.

"What is it?" Kamau asked.

"My pride is in danger and we need extra lions or leopards…" Chika trailed off.

"Are you asking me to join your pride?" Kamau asked.

"Yes, I'm sure Kovu would be a bit apprehensive but I think I could talk him into it." Chika replied.

"Are you sure I won't be like an outsider?" Kamau asked.

"No, we have another leopard in our pride, her name is Safi." Chika answered.

"Safi…" Kamau said. _That's what me and Cheza agreed to name our baby girl… _Kamau thought.

"Yeah… So what do you say?" Chika asked.

"Let's meet your pride." Kamau answered. Chika grinned and led Kamau to the pride lands. Jao went into the details of why the pride was in trouble.

"Come on let's go find Kovu." Chika insisted.

"Alright." Kamau said. Jao said goodbye to his mother and decided to go find his friends.

"Kovu!" Chika called as she spotted Kovu sitting atop pride rock.

"Yes Chika?" Kovu asked.

"This is my friend Kamau; since most of our lionesses are pregnant I figured we might need an extra fighter. Do you think he can join our pride?" Chika asked.

"Hmmm. For now he can stay I'm not sure if I want another leopard in the pride." Kovu answered.

"I won't be any trouble, I promise. I can hunt for myself so you won't have to over exert your lionesses." Kamau tried to convince Kovu.

"Fine you can stay." Kovu gave in, "But one problem involving you and I'll run you outta my pride."

"Yes your majesty." Kamau said politely. Kovu nodded and walked down pride rock to speak to his friends.

"Yes! You can stay!" Chika cheered as she nuzzled Kamau. Kamau smiled.

"I'd like to meet this other leopard in your pride." Kamau requested.

"Ok follow me." Chika ordered. Kamau obeyed and followed Chika. Chika found Kione and Safi just where she expected them to be, by the waterhole. Safi and Kione nuzzled each other lovingly.

"You're pregnant?!" Chika unexpectedly guessed.

"Yeah how'd you know?" Safi asked.

"Because if you weren't y'all wouldn't look so happy." Chika replied, "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, who's this?" Safi asked as she noticed Kamau.

"This is my friend Kamau, Kamau this is my brother Kione and my friend Safi." Chika introduced.

Kamau smiled _She looks so much like my Cheza. _Kamau thought. Kamau grabbed Safi's paw and kissed it softly.

"Nice to meet you Safi." Kamau smiled. Safi giggled sheepishly.

"Nice to meet you too." Safi grinned. Kione growled quietly under his breath.

"I'm gonna go take a nap." Kione grumbled.

"Me too." Chika yawned.

"So Safi what was your mother's name?" Kamau asked out of nowhere. Safi was surprised as she thought back to her mother. Her beautiful voice, her soft coat, and plus her comforting words.

"Cheza. I remember her soft, beautiful voice, her warm coat, and her comforting words." Safi sighed.

"That was my mate's name; we agreed to name our cub Safi, when she left to give birth to our cub she never came back. I think you're my daughter, where's Cheza?" Kamau said in a breath.

"So you're my dad!?" Safi asked in excitement. Kamau nodded and Safi nuzzled her new found father.

"I'm sorry to tell you this but, Cheza died when I was a young cub. I had just started to eat meat and our den collapsed, my mother died but at the last second she threw me out of the way. I dug in the ruble and found her body, she wasn't dead yet but she was slipping away, before she died she told me to come here and queen Kiara accepted me into the pride and I grew up here." Safi explained quietly. The words Safi had said hit Kamau hard.

"I'm sorry." Safi apologized softly.

"No it's ok, it wasn't your fault, I'm just glad I finally found you." Kamau grinned as he nuzzled his daughter, "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you growing up but I promise I'll be here for the rest of my years." Kamau vowed.

**A/N Hi guys! I hope y'all liked my latest chapter please review!**


	5. Time To Be Strong

Kione growled as he watched from a distance. His mate, Safi, was spending so much time with this leopard that she seemed to forget about him. Safi laughed loudly at something "funny" Kamau must have said.

"Alright I'm gonna stop this." Kione mumbled as he got up and walked towards Safi and Kamau.

"Hey guys." Kione said as he approached his mate. Kione in the middle of Kamau and Safi and gave a loving lick to Safi.

"How's my baby?" Kione asked as he put a paw on Safi's stomach.

"Good, gave me some stomach pains today though!" Safi laughed with mock anger.

"Little troublemaker!" Kamau laughed. Kione growled under his breath. _Who does he think he is?! Calling my cub a troublemaker! _Kione thought. Safi giggled and put a paw on Kamau's paw.

"Ok that's it! Safi quit flirting with him! I thought we were mates and then he comes along and you've been spending so much time with him and I don't like it!" Kione growled.

"Kione! I forgot to tell you, Kamau is my father." Safi laughed.

"Oh… Well you could've told me that!" Kione said feeling very embarrassed. Safi just laughed more and Kamau joined in on her laughter.

"Kione even if I wasn't Safi's father I would never try to steal someone's mate." Kamau said truthfully.

"I respect that." Kione said shortly. Kamau smiled and soon conversation got to a less serious topic. Vitani, Bibi, and Amber were all doing training as always on day 2.

"I miss Kiara; we should go see how her and her baby is after training." Bibi suggested.

"Yeah we haven't seen her since we heard she was pregnant." Vitani agreed. In training the lionesses were doing stretches and they would be sparring also. Since Chika's miscarriage she was in training. Everyone was surprised at how used to the training she seemed to be considering she was at the front of the line while everyone jogged, like today Hani let her lead the group while he waited. In no time training was dismissed and Vitani, Bibi, and Amber were off to find Kiara. The girls found Kiara resting by herself near pride rock with a paw on her distended, pregnant belly.

"Hey Kiara." Vitani greeted.

"Hey girls." Kiara smiled as her friends lay down next to her.

"Can you believe how old our cubs are now?" Bibi began the conversation.

"Yes I can't believe they're young adults." Amber agreed.

"Do you remember that we betrothed Buru, Akida, Kali, and Mali to each other?" Vitani asked Bibi.

"Yeah I remember that, but when I heard Mali and Solo were in love I talked to Rafiki about it and he said he can talk to the kings and unbetroth Mali and Buru." Bibi answered.

"I'm so glad Chika and Buru are finally together, I always noticed when they were cubs that they were close." Kiara commented.

"Me too, I hope when Chika comes into season they mate and have cubs." Bibi wished.

"Funny, I don't think Chika has ever spent a season alone." Vitani laughed.

"Yeah you know I lost a cub once, after I found out I lost the cub I came into season really soon, and then I met a rogue lion near the border and I had Solo." Amber shared.

"Maybe Chika will be like you and come into season soon." Kiara said. The four lionesses soon decided to take a short nap. Chika lay on her left side in the grass after training and groaned. She knew this feeling all too well. _I'm in season? Again?!_ Chika growled to herself. _I need to find Buru…_ Chika grinned.

"Buru!" Chika called in a singsong voice. Buru lifted his head off his paws and looked in the direction of Chika's voice.

"She's in season and she wants to mate, go make those cubs!" Solo teased. Akida joined in on Solo's laughter and Buru rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure it's not _that._" Buru insisted.

"Whatever, just go." Akida giggled. Buru listened and walked towards Chika. Just to make sure when Buru got to Chika he scented her. _Shit… am I ready for this?_ Buru asked when he knew Chika was in season.

"Yes dear?" Buru asked.

"I want to talk to you, follow me." Chika ordered. Chika walked in front of Buru, rubbing her body against Buru's.

"Alright." Buru said. Chika led Buru to a secluded area of trees a ways away from the waterhole where Buru, Akida, and Solo were lounging.

"What is it honey?" Buru asked nervously.

"I'm in season and I want cubs." Chika said bluntly.

"Chika are we ready for this?" Buru asked.

"Yes, common we have Dima and Jao and they're turning out just fine." Chika pleaded.

"I guess you're right." Buru admitted.

"When am I not?" Chika asked with a smile.

"I don't know." Buru whispered in Chika's ear as he closed the space between them.

Kali, Mali, and Safi were all with the boys Kione, Akida, and Solo by the waterhole as the sun was getting ready to set.

"You guys me and Akida have a little announcement." Kali started, "We're officially trying to have a cub after the war passes."

The 6 friends smiled in delight as they heard this news. Everyone was glad that everyone in their circle of friends was happy and had a mate. All eight young lions were having cubs, trying to have cubs, or already had cubs.

"I think it's a good idea to wait until the war passes to have cubs, because being pregnant while a war is going on must be scary." Mali commented.

"Yes it's going to be hard staying behind while our pride fights and knowing that one of the enemy lions could sneak to the den and possibly hurt me or the other pregnant lionesses." Safi agreed.

"I wonder if Chika and Buru will ever have cubs." Mali wondered.

"They will be having on soon, Chika's in season and earlier today she wanted to _"talk" _to Buru if you know what I mean." Solo informed his friends while putting air quotes with his paws on talk.

"Wow really?!" Mali exclaimed.

"Yeah I was there too." Akida confirmed.

"Hey guys." Buru greeted.

"Speak of the devil." Kali smiled, "Where's Chika?"

"She's resting in the den." Buru answered.

"Cuz you wore her out." Akida teased. Buru laughed at his brother's stupid comment.

"Well if you must know-"

"I really don't wanna know about you having sex with my sister." Kione interrupted.

"Alright, alright." Buru laughed. Naja and Runako walked over to Kione, Safi, Akida, Kali, Solo, Mali, and Buru to talk and hang out.

"Hey guys." Naja greeted. The seven lions smiled and greeted Naja and Runako.

"How's it going?' Mali asked.

"Good, what have y'all been talking about?" Naja asked as she and Runako lay down.

"Cubs." Kali answered, "Me and Akida are going to have one after the war passes."

"Good for you two! I can't wait until we have our cub or cubs. I'm finally starting to show a little." Naja smiled.

"I'm so happy for you guys! I'm gonna head to the den though, see y'all later." Mali waved goodbye.

"Ok see you in the den later." Kali smiled. Mali stood up and gave Solo a loving lick on the cheek and walked towards the den.

"Hey Chika." Mali greeted.

"Hey girlie." Chika smiled. Mali sat next to Chika and began to bathe Chika with her tongue.

"So how was mating with Buru for the first time?" Mali grinned between licks. Chika smiled, knowing this would come up soon.

"It was amazing, like the first time with Daren was terrible. He was aggressive, rough, and demanding. And with Kione it was just weird, nothing else. But this time with Buru it was…" Chika searched for the right word, "Perfect."

"Wow, I know how you feel. The first time with Solo was amazing, painful at first, but the feeling of relief and happiness after was worth the pain." Mali agreed.

"I'm kinda scared of going through the pain of cub birth again though, I'll admit that." Chika admitted in embarrassment.

"Yeah, it is pretty painful but the feeling of accomplishment and love for the cub that you finally get to meet and see is worth the pain." Mali pointed out.

"I agree 100% so are you going to have any more cubs?" Chika asked.

"Nah, one is enough for me, Solo agrees and we're just going to enjoy watching Ruko grow into adolescence." Mali answered, "How about you? Is this gonna be your last litter or do you want even more cubs?"

"Hell no, this is going to be my last batch of cubs, but I don't think I'm going to have a single cub this time, I don't know why but I just have the feeling." Chika replied.

"Yeah when I was pregnant with Ruko I had a feeling I was only gonna have one cub." Mali nodded understanding her friend's instincts.

"Can you believe the cubs are already just entering adolescence?" Chika exclaimed, "It seems like just yesterday we brought them home and they were cubs."

"I know, I love it when I hear their voices crack, it's so cute!" Mali giggled.

"Yeah! I love how each of the boys have just a tiny tuft of mane on their chest, remember when Buru, Kione, Akida, and Solo were in that awkward half mane phase?" Chika smiled.

"Yeah I think that was when I fell for Solo." Mali thought out loud. The girls giggled and groomed each other with friendly licks until it was dusk and everyone turned in for bed. A month passed and a change went over the pride lands. All lions and lionesses were transformed into fierce warriors. The pregnant lionesses in the pride were also showing and some could even feel the cub starting to move and kick, or in Chika's case cubs! Rafiki said Chika was going to have triplets a boy and two girls. Naja, Binta, Safi, and Kiara were blessed with finding out that they were having one cub. Naja, Kiara, Safi, and Binta all would've been fine with having more than one cub but they were all glad to at least be having one cub.

Kovu had begun to teach Kione more and more about being king because Kovu and Kione agreed that Kione would become king after the war was over. Kovu had teamed up with some African wild dogs and made a deal with them to fight in the war on their side and stay just outside of the out lands where the grass was healthy and there were herds to hunt. They were to watch for Daren and the River pride. The wild dogs knew that the pride would be coming for war any day now. In return of helping the pride landers Kovu would let the dogs stay in the pride lands as long as they didn't cause any problems.

Ruko and Tavi's manes had grown considerably the hair on their heads was very long and went all the way down their necks, the mane on their chest started to grow a lot instead of being small and thin now it was long but still thin. The two boys still had a lot of growing for their mane to be fully grown and thick. Jao, being older by a few months, had unruly hair on his head and neck, a large tuft of mane on his chest, and some on his elbows.

The three girls didn't grow much, especially Dima coming from a line of short lionesses in her family, Baya and Isis's legs grew longer and Dima's legs also grew but she was still the shortest lioness in the pride. Chika suspected that Dima would grow to be about her, Naja, and Bella's height. Dima, Baya, and Isis grew more on the inside than outside, gaining maturity and knowledge. All woke up with slight fear of the fact that they could go into battle that very day. Kovu walked out onto pride rock early in the morning and looked out on his land and saw a wild dog running full speed towards him. Kovu ran to meet him halfway and intercepted him by the waterhole.

"Is the River pride here?" Kovu panted. The dog held up a paw as he tried to catch his breath. He caught his breath and began to speak.

"I am a spy from my pack, I traveled farther to see if the pride was coming, I happened to find them eating dinner and planning when they were going to strike. They're planning a surprise attack tonight, they're going to kidnap the weak, pregnant, or young and use them as hostages if you want my opinion I would hide your pregnant lionesses." The wild dog informed Kovu.

"Thank you; we'll hide our pregnant lionesses and get ready for war tonight. What is your name?" Kovu asked.

"Chike, I will round up my pack and we'll meet you at the northern border when it's almost sundown." Chike answered.

"Sounds good thank you for your help." Kovu smiled and watched Chike walked back to his pack. Kovu walked into the den to tell his pride the time to be strong was coming up.

**A/N I hope you liked this chapter and don't worry the story ain't over after the war, there's still much more to happen after that! I'll update soon please review!**


	6. On The Battlefield

Chika was scared to find that she would have to face Daren again. She insisted on fighting in the war and eventually Kamau taught her how to fight while pregnant. Chika was only 3 weeks pregnant so her cubs were still very underdeveloped and Chika only had a small baby bump. Chika would feel bad ending Daren's life because she had to admit Daren was unbelievably handsome. _Maybe I could change him instead of kill him…_ Chika thought. Kovu was putting the pregnant lionesses in a hiding spot so they wouldn't be taken hostage. Safi, Binta, Naja, and Kiara were in a small underground den behind pride rock. Safi had the good idea of putting leaves and sticks on the entrance so the hole where the den was would be less noticeable. Kovu came back and called the pride into the den for a small meeting.

"Everyone gather 'round. Now what we're going to do is Buru, Kione, Hani, Akida, Solo, Tavi, Ruko, and Jao are going to travel on the sides but y'all are going to stay low to the ground and unseen. And all our lionesses will be on the inside." Kovu instructed.

"So basically our plan is to make our pride seem small and weak by just letting them see our females?" Chika asked.

"Yes Chika, exactly." Kovu smiled.

"And the fact that Daren's pride views females as weak and fragile makes it even better." Isis grinned.

"Yes, now we must head to the northern border, we'll get there around dusk; we won't let them come to our home we must keep them away from pride rock. Don't worry my brothers, my sisters, the pride lands won't fall, the pride lands will _rise!"_ Kovu roared. The pride roared and cheered in agreement. Without another word the pride headed out.

"Chika would you like to lead us?" Kovu asked with a smile. Kovu knew how important this war was to Chika so she could finally not be afraid anymore.

"Yes, thank you Kovu." Chika smiled in thankfulness. Chika walked to the front of the pride and lead them with pride and strength. Buru made his way to Chika's side.

"Are you ok?" Buru asked.

"Just a little scared." Chika admitted. Buru was surprised with her answer; Chika wasn't the type to admit fear.

"Why are you scared?" Buru asked.

"It's like, I've been running from Daren for so long and now here I am leading my pride head on to go fight him and his army." Chika explained.

"Chika, don't think about the fear think about the danger free environment our cub will be raised in and that we don't have to worry about him anymore." Buru assured.

"Thanks babe." Chika said with a loving nuzzle, "I love you."

"I love you too now I have to go on the outside and stay hidden." Buru said. Chika nodded and watched Buru leave. They'd be at the border in about ten minutes and the sun was setting, giving the horizon an orange and pink glow. Chika held her head high for she knew she was leading the greatest army of warriors into battle. She knew her step father was behind her and next to him were Bella and Hani who now was hidden in the grass. They passed the outlands and came to a grassy meadow area. At first no one saw anything but when it finally turned pitch black, with a lion's keen eyes, the pride landers saw forms of a pride walking toward them. As they got closer Chika saw the form of Daren's hard muscular shoulders and handsome face, she remembered how rough and brutal he was. To his right was Dumaka Chika remembered the hard slap to the face she received from him when she was captured.

"Chika, remember to call the wild dogs with that call I told you about when they get here." Kovu whispered, "We'll talk to him together."

As Kovu said that he moved to Chika's side. Chika concentrated on the pride that was closer now. Dau had been the quieter one of the three brothers. He didn't really do anything to harm Chika but he still helped raise Jao. Chika recognized Kasim at the back of the pride he had his head lowered in submission to the rest of the pride. _Ha! That's exactly what he deserves! _Chika laughed to herself. They were very close now Chika could hear their soft growls and footsteps. They stepped closer and closer and closer Until Daren was in front of Chika with an evil smile.

"You know I pictured your pride bigger." Daren taunted he didn't break the long stare with Chika for even a second. Chika stared back at Daren with no fear, her eyes were narrowed and her claws were unsheathed.

"That's exactly what I thought you'd say how dare you show your face around here after all the trouble you've caused, I should kill you right now." Chika snarled.

"I just came here to get my son and daughter." Daren explained, "And maybe take over your pride."

"They want nothing to do with you. I'll give you one chance, leave right now and never come back or you can stay, fight and get killed." Chika threatened.

"Common, we can easily beat your pride since your little boyfriend and all your males are gone." Daren teased, "No wonder if I were him I'd leave too, he probably found someone better than you." Chika smiled she expected this kind of response from Daren; she knew he was just trying to make her mad.

"You're wrong." Kovu smiled. That was the queue for the boys to stand up and show themselves. The males stood up and a subtle look of surprise waved over Daren's face.

"Ooh you tricked me!" Daren said sarcastically, "Look you can just give me your lands and my cubs and we'll spare your worthless lives."

"Never I won't let you take over my home and raise me and Jao. You will never be our father." Dima growled.

"Oh but I am honey, I am your father weather you like it or not!" Daren yelled.

"No! You're not the father, I am! I raised Dima and I also raised Jao for a short time. You're a terrible father you don't care about these kids all you care about is having an heir for when you die." Buru shouted.

"You may be with Chika now and you may have a bond with these kids but you will never be a real father to them all you'll be is a _fake."_ Daren growled. Chika snapped, she roared and pounced at Daren. She had enough she wanted to kill Daren to finally end it. Daren wasn't expecting the attack so Chika had him knocked over on his back for a while she managed to bite into his neck but Daren quickly threw her off and swiped a large paw at Chika's head, luckily Chika was a bit faster than Daren so she ducked out of the way before he could make contact. Chika watched out of the corner of her eye as Daren's pride attacked the pride landers. Chika didn't notice before but Daren's pride made an alliance with about thirteen leopards making the pride landers slightly outnumbered. Chika remembered the call she raised her head and let out a bark like call. The wild dogs ran out onto the battle field and attacked Daren's pride.

Chika took a breath through her nose Daren's sickening scent washed over her; his scent was like a mixture between blood and fire. Daren pounced on Chika and she was knocked on her back.

"Remember when you were in season and we were in a position kinda like this?" Daren smiled. He was trying to get on Chika's nerves so she would blindly attack with anger. But Chika just brushed it off and kicked Daren between his back legs as hard as she could with her leg. Daren cried out in pain and fell to his side. Chika pounced onto Daren and bit into his neck. Daren tried to stand but didn't get far with Chika on top of him, he half stood half laid and tried to pull Chika from him. Chika was thrown to the side roughly by Daren. Daren jumped at Chika and clawed at her exposed back. Chika roared in pain and jumped to her paws.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." Daren taunted. Chika feel a wave of dizziness and shook her head.

Chika looked at Daren she could even say he just as many wounds as she did. Chika surveyed the battle field as she prepared herself to attack Daren again. She saw Jao and Dima working together to fight a River pride lioness. She looked for Buru and Kovu. She spotted Buru fighting Dumaka and Kovu fighting Dau.

"Looking for your boyfriend?" Daren mocked, "He's dead meat, Dumaka is one of the strongest lions I've ever seen."

"Well you've never seen Buru fight, he's amazing." Chika growled. Chika and Daren were circling each other, waiting for someone to make a move. Daren ran out of patience and pounced at Chika. Chika fought effortlessly for she knew many tricks but Daren was a challenge, he also knew many tricks to trick his opponent. Chika let her thoughts wander and began to think of everyone she loved. Buru, his eyes were her favorite thing about him they were dark and mysterious, his scent was like the smell after a really bad storm and Chika loved it, his mane wasn't soft like Kione's or Solo's but it was more coarse and rough but that was ok because Chika liked it. Chika thought about her cubs, they were so different. Dima was short and skinny and Jao was tall and muscular, Dima had pale yellowish fur, and Jao had medium brown fur, but the two had some similarities like they both had some form of blue eyes and they both had black noses.

On the other side of the battle field Tavi fought a lion with a dark grey pelt. Tavi flipped the dark lion on his back and clawed at his stomach. The lion screamed in pain and helplessly struck out with his front paws. The lion tried to strike Tavi in the face but Tavi grabbed the lion's paw and bit into it as hard as he could. _Snap._ _Did I just break his paw?_ The dark grey lion screamed even louder. _Yes. _Tavi answered himself.

"Retreat. Get out of my home or I. Will. Kill. You." Tavi threated. The lion didn't have to think twice, he ran on three legs away from the pride lands. Tavi looked around to see if there was anyone he could help. In the distance he saw Baya walking away with a large brown lion. It was Dau but Tavi didn't know that. Tavi followed them quietly to a small den. He watched as his girlfriend leaned in and kissed the lion. Tavi growled and made his presence known.

"You have some explaining to do." Tavi growled.

"Tavi what are you doing here!?" Baya gasped.

"Oh you know I just stopped by to tell my girlfriend that we're _done."_ Tavi snarled.

"What?" Baya helplessly whined with tears threatening to pour down her face.

"I'm gonna leave, I don't do favors for sluts." Dau said as he stalked back to the battle field.

"What was he gonna do for you? Don't even answer, I'm outta here." Tavi said in anger.

"Wait don't go." Baya said to Tavi's back. Tavi didn't look back he just ran to the battle field. A lean lioness stalked around the battle field looking for an opponent. Tavi spotted her and released all his rage on the poor River pride lioness. She retaliated and scratched at Tavi's back. The two fought with hard blows, waiting for someone to give in.

On the other side of the battle field Kovu was now battling Daren while Chika fought Dumaka with Buru. Chika scratched deep into Dumaka's cheek causing a lot of blood. Dumaka didn't even flinch he just pounced at Chika and bit into her neck. Buru defended his mate by jumping on Dumaka's back and biting into the back of his neck. Dumaka roared a powerful roar and turned to bite into Buru's leg. Chika took the opportunity to get on her paws. Chika sunk her teeth into Dumaka's throat her teeth going past his mane and into skin. Dumaka wildly swung Chika around, trying to get her to let go. But Chika held on tight to Dumaka's neck and only bit harder.

Tavi pounded the male adolescent with his paws. Blood was all over Tavi but most of it wasn't his own. Tavi was so mad he couldn't even hear the lion's screams of pain. Tavi noticed that he was pounding at a lifeless body. Tavi slowly walked from the body, he was a bit stunned because that was the first lion he'd ever killed. The other two lions he fought he didn't kill he just hurt them badly and made them retreat. Tavi was then attacked from behind by a lion and lioness about his age. Tavi successfully fought both of them and sooner or later he had them both pinned to the ground.

"Please spare us." The female lion pleaded.

"Give me one good reason I should spare you two." Tavi growled.

"Because Daren forced us to fight in this stupid war otherwise he said he'd kill our very old mother and I'm expecting a cub." The little female explained.

"Alright but no tricks, let's just go hide out in a den until the war's over, I don't wanna murder anyone else." Tavi gave in. Tavi got up and led the two to the den his father used to live in. Tavi let the two go in first so he wasn't trapped against two lions and a stone wall. Tavi watched as the female lioness tried to nurse the wound on her back. She was a soft grey color with dark blue eyes, and a black tail tip.

"Do you need help with that?" Tavi asked.

"Yes please." She answered quietly. Tavi moved to the little grey lioness and began to lick her bleeding back. It looked as if a lion raked his or her claws down her back; he knew that she would for sure have scars for the rest of her life. The male lion was luckier and had wounds he could clean himself. The male that must've been the grey female's brother had a medium grey pelt, green eyes, and a brown tail tuft.

"So what are your names?" Tavi asked.

"I'm Jina." Jina introduced with a forced smile out of being in slight pain due to her back wounds.

"And I'm Taj." Taj added, "Jina's my sister if you were wondering, I'm not the father of her cub that brute Daren is."

"But Taj don't get all worked up, I'm happy to be pregnant, sure I would've wanted to wait until I was a bit older and have a cub with someone I love but I'll be having a cub none the less." Jina smiled positively.

"I hope he dies out there." Taj growled.

"Why do you guys listen to him anyways?" Tavi asked, "I mean you all seem to hate him a lot."

"We have no choice; in our pride there are about ten lions and lionesses, including me and Jina that hate Daren and his rules and then there's about ten lions and lionesses they brain washed and those lions and lionesses do all their dirty work, if someone steps out of line Daren, his brothers, and the ones who listen to them all attack the lions who step out of line and it usually results in death." Taj explained with hate in his eyes.

"Wow that sounds terrible, hey when this war is over and if the pride lands win I'll see if I can convince Kovu to let you stay." Tavi offered between licks.

"You'd do that for us?!" Jina smiled.

"Yeah, it'd be horrible if I didn't." Tavi confirmed. Taj and Jina instantly nuzzled Tavi in thanks.

"Thank you so much." Jina thanked sincerely.

"Don't mention it." Tavi said as he nuzzled the two back.

Back on the battle field Kovu was getting badly beaten by Daren. Daren pinned Kovu down and slashed at him with his claws. Kovu yelled in pain. Kione looked and saw his step father getting beaten to a pulp. Kione roared and pounced at Daren, Kione had him pinned on his back.

"Step away from him! Your battle is with me now! I am the heir to the throne after this war, leave my step father alone!" Kione roared menacingly.

**A/N How'd you like the first chapter with the war going on? Please review and let me know what you think! The next chapter will be posted in about two weeks more or less. Thanks for reading!**


	7. The Fallen Kings

Tavi finished cleaning out the wounds on Jina's back and Jina was currently talking to Taj. Tavi didn't engage in the conversation all he could think about was Baya. Her scent, her smile, her loving licks, and best of all her orange eyes. _Why did she kiss that lion? What can he give her that I can't?_ _It's probably my fault; I should've been a better boyfriend…_ Tavi thought to himself.

"Are you okay?" Jina asked. Tavi looked up and noticed Taj was sleeping and Jina was looking at him with big dark blue eyes.

"I'm just thinking." Tavi answered.

"About what?" Jina asked.

"My ex-girlfriend." Tavi replied with sigh.

"What happened?" Jina asked.

"She cheated on me and I told her it was over." Tavi explained, "I feel like I wasn't good enough and it was all my fault."

Jina put a grey paw on Tavi's arm.

"Sometimes people don't know how to commit to having one special person. But someday your ex is gonna realize that she made huge mistake but it'll be too late because Tavi I hope you know to never go back to someone because that's like making the same mistake twice." Jina comforted.

"Thank you Jina, you're very smart." Tavi smiled.

Kione attacked Daren with strong blows to the head, chest, and stomach. Daren tried to flip Kione over on his back but Kione wriggled out of his grip. Kione raked his claws into Daren's stomach. Daren screamed helplessly and scratched at Kione's chest. He ignored the stinging pain and kept scratching. Kione wanted to end it quick for the lion so he bit as hard as he could into Daren's neck. Kione heard Daren's breathing become short, he was struggling for air, Daren thrashed and fought but Kione held him down until his body went limp. Kione didn't let go until he was sure that Daren was dead. Kione let go and put his ear to Daren's chest, there was no heartbeat, and he was dead, gone forever. Kione lifted his head and saw everyone around him with their battles on hold, just staring at him.

"Your leader is dead, leave now." Kione commanded.

"You really think Daren was the true leader?" Dumaka scoffed, "He was just the muscles but _I_ was the brains, the one who planned everything, we needed a large idiot to get everyone to do as we said. So now your fight is with _me."_

"Is that so? Well you made it pretty clear that your brother here is strong and a better fighter than you so shouldn't you be scared of me?" Kione questioned.

"I never said that. What I lacked in brute strength I make up for in speed." Dumaka growled.

Kione stepped forward and began to circle Dumaka.

"Go ahead circle me, but I'll be prepared for your weak attempts to kill me." Dumaka said smugly.

Kione growled and faced Dumaka with hate in his green eyes. _How dare you try to take my pride, my home, my throne, and my happiness away?! _Kione thought in anger. Dumaka smiled an evil smile.

"Common kitty cat, hit me, bite me, and scratch me." Dumaka taunted.

Kione snarled and attacked with his best moves. But Dumaka _was _very fast; he fainted to the side and hit Kione in the ribs, hard. Kione struggled to get the breath that was knocked out of him back. Dumaka took that time to pounce on Kione and bite into his thick young adult mane. Kione tried to flip Dumaka on his stomach but Dumaka as too heavy. _This is it, I'm going to die. _Kione felt the weight lift off of him and looked up to see Chika with Dumaka on her shoulders. Chika threw Dumaka about three feet and roared.

"Well we know who paid attention in training!" Kione exclaimed. Chika smiled and winked at Kione.

Kione got to his paws and stood beside Chika. The brother sister pair growled at Dumaka, daring him to move closer. Dumaka roared at Chika and pounced at her chest. Chika blocked Dumaka with a hard blow to the face. Dumaka, after ramming into Chika's paw, fell flat onto his back. Kione jumped onto Dumaka trying to strangle him. But Dumaka was quick and kept wriggling out of Kione's grip.

"I'll take it that you don't need my help anymore." Chika called as she walked away from the fighting males.

Chika sure had made an impression on the River pride lions. None of them wanted to fight the strong young lioness. Chika ran at three lionesses looking for an opponent. The lionesses saw Chika effortlessly throw Dumaka, they didn't want to mess with her. Chika ran the lionesses about a mile away from the pride lands and retreated. As she was going back Chika saw the lifeless looking body of Kovu.

"Kovu!" Chika shouted. Chika sat by Kovu trying to get him to open his eyes. Chika licked his cheek, hoping he would wake up. Kovu's eyes fluttered open.

"Kovu!" Chika shouted again.

"Chika, I'm not going to make it, tell Kiara I love her so much and I'm terribly sorry I won't be there to see the birth of our cub." Kovu whispered with weak breathing Chika nodded, "I love you like you're my real daughter, and don't forget that."

A tear rolled down Chika face as she whispered, "I love you too… daddy."

Kovu closed his eyes with a smile, for Chika hadn't called him "Daddy" since she found out he wasn't her real father. Chika watched as the life faded from Kovu's body. She carried his body to the side of the battlefield so he wouldn't be stepped on.

"You done having your little cry fest?" A lioness taunted. Chika whipped her head around and growled at the strange lioness.

"I'm gonna take those words and shove them so far down your throat, they'll come out your ass." Chika threatened.

"Oh yeah, I'm real scared." The lioness said sarcastically.

Chika growled and walked over to the lioness.

"I'll give you one chance, either run away and I'll never have to see your ugly face again or stay and have me kill you within three minutes." Chika snarled.

"You don't stand a chance against me." The lioness scoffed.

"Try me." Chika growled softly.

Chika and the lioness were locked in battle. Chika pinned the lioness down effortlessly and grabbed her throat with both paws. Chika decided to end it quick for the lioness so she grabbed the lioness's throat with her teeth. Chika pressed down hard until the lioness stop breathing and moving.

"Well that was easier than I expected." Chika smirked.

Kione slashed Dumaka's forehead as hard as he could. The older lion howled in pain and gave Kione a blow to the head that knocked him of his feet. Kione got up in a daze and jumped at Dumaka before he could jump at him. Kione pounded Dumaka's chest, throat, and head with unsheathed claws. When Kione finished pounding the lion he used all his strength to pick up Dumaka and throw him into a large rock. Dumaka flew into the rock head first and didn't rise. Kione, feeling woozy from all the blood he lost in the battle, collapsed on the floor. Chika rushed to her brother, trying to get him to wake up. Chika saw the blood oozing out of different areas of Kione's head and panicked. Chika put an ear to her brother's chest, checking for a heartbeat. Chika heard a heartbeat but it was faint and quick. Buru stood up and got the fighting lion's attention.

"River pride lions and lionesses! Your leader is dead, you need to pick up your beaten bodies and leave the pride lands!" Buru roared to the leftover river pride lions and lionesses. The leftover lions and lionesses looked around in confusion, checking to see if their leader really was dead. When the lions and lionesses saw their dead leaders they ran as fast as they could away from the pride lands. The pride landers cheered in their victory.

"Uh you guys, let's not celebrate too soon." Chika advised loudly, "Kione's hurt real bad."

The pride gathered around Kione and Chika picked Solo, Buru, and Akida to carry Kione to the den.

"Also I want our lionesses or lions who can handle dead bodies to stay behind." Chika ordered. Most of the lions and lionesses of the pride walked back to pride rock with Buru, Solo, and Akida. But about 3 lionesses stayed behind to help out. One of them was named Jika; she had a yellow pelt with green eyes, the other lioness was Shani; she had grey eyes and the lightest pelt Chika had ever seen, the last lioness was Shani's sister Shanti; she looked just like Shani only Shanti was a bit taller.

"Alright you three look for pride landers, we don't need to waste our time having respect for those nasty River pride lions and lionesses." Chika ordered. After a few minutes of searching the battlefield the lionesses found only King Kovu's body. Chika surveyed the battle field and checked all the dead River pride lions and lionesses to make sure they were all dead. Chika got to checking Dau and felt a pulse. Chika licked Dau, trying to get him to open his eyes. Dau's eyes flickered open with a groan.

"Am I going to die?" Dau asked quietly.

"I don't think so; your pulse is very strong. But if I decide to leave you out here for the hyenas then yes you will die." Chika answered.

"Please Chika, forgive me. I'm not entirely like my brothers I promise. I'm sorry for following them though please just help me get better and I promise I'll leave the pride lands without another word." Dau begged.

"Uggh fine but if you step out of line once you're dead got it?" Chika threatened.

"Oh thank you Chika! I'm forever in your dept." Dau thanked.

"Can you walk on your own?" Chika asked.

"I think so, I'll try." Dau mumbled. Dau got to his paws slowly and tried to take a step.

"Ow!" Dau shouted as he fell to the ground.

"Don't move just hold on." Chika ordered.

"Jika, come over here I need you!" Chika yelled.

"But Chika I have to help carry Kovu." Jika called.

"Shani and Shanti can carry him with their combined strength; I need you to help me carry Dau." Chika barked.

"Alright." Jika agreed, "Wait are you sure we can trust him?"

"I'm taking care of this one myself, so I'll keep a close watch on him." Chika explained.

"Ok if you say so." Jika shrugged. It took a while but Jika and Chika managed to balance Dau on their backs. The 4 lionesses and one lion walked to pride rock in silence. The three lionesses, Shani, Shanti, and Jika cried a little about their king's death but Chika held it all in; she didn't want _anyone _to see her cry. When they got to pride rock Chika decided to tend to Dau right away so she went to the den Hani used to stay in.

"Thank you Jika. Can you tell Buru to come to the den with some herbs?" Chika asked.

"Sure glad to help Chika." Jika smiled.

When the lionesses got back to pride rock with the former king the whole pride gathered around his body. Kiara, having arrived with all the other pregnant lionesses a while ago, fell onto Kovu's lifeless body weeping heavily. Hani made his way to the queen, softly stroking her back for comfort. Shanti spoke up.

"Kiara, Chika said Kovu told her something before he died. Do you want to see Chika so she can give you the message?"

Kiara nodded.

"Chika told me to meet her at Hani's old den with some herbs, I can walk you there." Buru offered with a large piece of bark covered with herbs in his mouth.

"Thank you Buru, let's go." Kiara sniffled, "As for everyone else, I need a few people to dig a hole behind pride rock so we can have it ready later for a burial."

A few lionesses decided to help you and dig the hole.

"And Safi, since you and Kione will become king and queen later tonight I need you to do a queenly task. You know everyone in the pride right?" Kiara asked. She was trying so hard not to cry for the loss of her husband, she could cry later when things didn't have to be figured out.

"Yes, do you need me to make sure no one's missing?" Safi asked.

Kiara nodded and sent Safi off to do the task at hand. Buru and Kiara walked in an awkward silence until they got to the den. In the den Chika was cleaning out Dau's wounds with gentle licks.

"You're pretty good at this, are you a medicine lioness?" Dau asked.

"Nope, I just have a lot of experience because Dima used to play rough and get hurt a lot so I would have to be gentle." Chika explained.

"I see, Ow!" Dau exclaimed as he felt a stinging pain in his lower stomach.

"Sorry, there's a nasty gash right here and I'm trying to be as gentle as possible." Chika apologized.

"That's ok, I've felt worse pain." Dau shrugged.

"Buru should be here soon with some herbs." Chika said between licks.

"What exactly do herbs look like?" Dau asked.

"Well Rafiki mixes them in some goopy mush and it's a bluish purple color." Chika replied.

"Is it gonna sting?" Dau asked.

"I don't know I've never had it put on me before." Chika replied.

"Uh that feels weird." Dau commented as Chika got to the lowest part of the wound.

"Hold on I'm almost done with it." Chika snapped.

"Sorry." Dau said quietly.

"We're here." Buru called as he entered the den, "Ew Chika what are you doing!?"

"Cleaning out a wound on his lower stomach, jeez!" Chika laughed.

"Oh… well we got the medicine and Kiara wants to know what Kovu told you to tell her." Buru explained.

"Oh, mom I'm sorry about Dad- er Kovu but he told me to tell you that he loves you very much and he's terribly sorry he won't be able to see the birth of your cub." Chika said. Kiara wept heavily as Chika told her the message. It pained Chika to see her mother cry, it was probably the worst thing you could see next to seeing your father die. Chika hugged her mother tight; she thought that would help her stop crying but Kiara cried even more from the gesture. Eventually Kiara broke them embrace and dried her tears.

"I should get to pride rock and help with the burial, you two can stay here and help this lion, and you'll be able to see the grave later." Kiara suggested.

"Alright mom, I love you. And just so you know, Kovu died with a smile because he knew that he made a difference in this world. He was a father, a husband, a brother, and grandpa, a friend to all, and a great king." Chika comforted. Kiara smiled for it was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard Chika say. Kiara said her goodbyes and left.

"Alright let's fix Dau up." Chika said to Buru.

"Okie dokie. So do we just take a pawful and spread it on the wounds?" Buru asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Chika answered. Buru nodded an "okay" and the two spread the herbs on the large lion's body. Everything seemed like it would soon get better.

**A/N Hey y'all! Sorry this is kinda late hope you enjoyed! :D**


	8. The Apperision

"Kiara can I speak to you?" Tavi asked quietly. Jina and Taj stood around the corner of pride rock listening to the conversation.

"Of course Tavi, what is it?" Kiara replied.

"Well on the battlefield I met these two lions about my age. They were really nice and they told me about how they were forced into doing things for Daren and his pride, I told them I would ask you if they could join our pride so can they?" Tavi asked.

"I'd like to meet them, where are they." Kiara replied.

"Taj, Jina get over here!" Tavi yelled behind him. Taj and Jina slowly walked around the corner to meet the beautiful queen.

"Hello." Jina greeted quietly, "Taj say hi!" Jina ordered her brother with a bump to the shoulder.

"Oh! Hello your majesty." Taj said with a respectful bow. Jina turned and saw her bow and followed suit.

"Hello Taj and Jina." Kiara greeted.

"It is with great respect that me and my sister Jina ask to join your pride." Taj said. Kiara's mind fluttered to the moment when Kovu first asked to join her pride.

"You two are too young to be living without a pride, I would be happy to welcome you into mine." Kiara grinned. Jina and Taj smiled ear to ear.

"Thank you so much my queen!" Jina thanked.

"Please call me Kiara." Kiara giggled at the young lioness's happiness.

"Kiara I have terrible news!" Safi shouted as she reached the queen.

"What is it?" Kiara asked quickly.

"Ruko is missing." Safi said in a breath.

"Have you searched everywhere?" Kiara asked.

"I just sent out search parties to look for him." Safi informed Kiara.

"Good job Safi, you'll make a fine queen." Kiara complemented.

"Thank you Kiara." Safi gushed.

"Where could he be?" Tavi asked when he finally snapped out of his thoughts.

"We don't know Tavi but we'll try our hardest to find him." Safi answered.

"I'm going out there to look for him." Tavi said as he ran towards where he last saw Ruko, on the battlefield.

"You two can make yourselves at home until our hunting party comes back." Kiara said to almost forgotten Jina and Taj.

"Alright thank you." Jina smiled as the queen walked away. Jina and Taj sat down near the water hole and small talked until they saw 3 young lionesses walking towards them.

"Who are you?" The smallest one, Dima barked.

"Hello, I'm Jina and this is my brother Taj. We just joined your pride and don't worry we didn't worship Daren like the others." Jina explained.

"Oh well I'm Dima and these are my two friends Baya and Isis." Dima introduced.

"Nice to meet you two." Jina smiled politely.

"Nice to meet you too." Isis grinned while Baya stayed quiet and looked at her paws. The three girls lay down by Jina and Taj. Baya couldn't help but think about Tavi and why she didn't notice how good of a boyfriend he really was.

"So have you two been taught how to hunt yet?" Dima asked.

"I have but Taj was just taught in fighting, he was a guard for Daren's den in case any pride members tried to kill him in his sleep." Jina explained. Taj didn't know how to talk to other girls besides his sister so he began to feel nervous and he hoped none of them asked just him a question. If they kept asking questions directed at both of them then Taj would never have to talk. But just in case he got up and decided to find a nice tree to lie in.

"What's his deal?" Dima asked when Taj walked out of ear shot.

"I don't know, I don't think he likes talking to lionesses." Jina answered.

"Well he talks to you, right?" Isis asked.

"Yeah but he's my brother so it's different I guess. I'll ask him about it later." Jina explained.

"He seems a little grumpy to me." Isis stated.

"He is kinda moody." Jina agreed.

"Hey look the hunting party brought back two wildebeests!" Dima exclaimed. And with that the three lionesses bolted to pride rock while Baya told them she'd rather walk. When they got back to pride rock the search party was back with no sign of Ruko but Tavi and Jao were still looking for Ruko like prey. The pride dug in while Chika visited her brother, she had already caught a small warthog for herself.

"Kione are you awake?" Chika called into the den. Chika looked in the den to see Safi sitting by her love.

"He's still unconscious." Safi informed Chika.

"Oh, will he be okay?" Chika asked quietly.

"Dotty and Rafiki don't know, they said if he wakes up before the sun rises he should recover but if he doesn't wake up soon it could show that he might not make it." Safi said, choking up at the end of her sentence. Chika took in Safi's words and the sight of her brother. Kione was lying on his stomach with his front and back paws spread out. He had parts of a bee nest on different areas. He had orange goo all over his body; Chika assumed that the orange goo covered his many wounds.

"What's with the bee nest on his head?" Chika asked.

"Dotty said that honey helps the wounds heal faster because he had some nasty gashes on his head." Safi replied, "And the orange goo is some kind of plant that keeps the cuts and scrapes from getting infected and they also put honey under the goo so his body wounds can heal too."

"I see have you tried waking him?" Chika asked her leopard friend.

"No." Safi answered.

"Should we try?" Chika asked, suddenly feeling very inquisitive.

"Yeah. You try gently shaking him and I'll try to lick him awake." Safi ordered. Chika went to her brother's shoulder and put a paw lightly on him and shook his heavy body slowly. Chika made sure that there was no goop in the area where her paw was and continued shaking him. Safi made her way to Kione's head and nuzzled him softly.

"Kione honey wake up." Safi said quietly. Safi licked her mate with soft strokes, hoping to wake him. Kione grimaced and groaned in discomfort.

"I think it's working." Chika said with excitement. Chika batted one of Kione's wounds, hoping the pain would wake him up. Kione shot his head up.

"Ow!" Kione yelled. He looked behind him to see Chika giggling with orange goop on her paw.

"Kione! Thank god you're awake." Safi smiled.

"I knew that would work." Chika giggled. She rubbed her paw on Kione's wound, putting back the goop from her paw.

"Ow, can you please stop touching my cuts?" Kione said through gritted teeth. Safi nuzzled Kione softly, happy that Kione would survive.

"Can you get up?" Safi asked.

"I think so." Kione answered. Kione stepped to his paws with slight difficulty but found his strength and stood on all four paws. Kiara suddenly walked into the den, getting ready to announce something.

"Kione you're alright!" Kiara grinned.

"It would seem so." Kione smirked.

"Well come on you guys, we're having the burial now." Kiara announced, trying to be strong.

"Who died?" Kione asked.

"Kovu." Chika replied quietly. A look of sadness washed over Kione's face.

"Well let's get a move on then." Kione said. The burial was short and had many tears but with an end to one king's reign there had to be a beginning to another one's. Kione and Safi knew they would soon be king and queen within a matter of minutes. The pride gathered at the bottom of pride rock and watched as Kione, Safi, and Kiara made their way to the peak of pride rock. Kiara stepped forward first; she roared a long, loud roar signaling the end of her reign. Then Kiara stepped back and bowed to Kione and Safi as she passed the two. Kione and Safi stepped forward slowly. Kione felt his legs turn to jelly, this was it the moment he wanted his entire life. Safi felt weird, she was a leopard it wasn't in her blood to lead a kingdom but there was a first for everything. Kione and Safi stopped at the edge and took in a deep breath and after that deep breath they roared a loud roar together. The pride below roared back and cheered for the new king and queen. Even Mali and Solo looked happy for their friends in the midst of losing their son. And from far away in the distance the pride heard Jao and Tavi's loud roar in honor of their new king. The entire pride chuckled a little even though they lost two pride members they tried to stay happy. With that the sun rose literally with Kione and Safi as the new king and queen. Kione and Safi descended pride rock signaling the end of the ceremony.

Kiara nuzzled her son and Safi, knowing she raised a wise king and queen, considering she practically raised Safi. Chika congratulated her brother and then headed to the den where Dau was staying in.

"How are you feeling?" Chika asked as she entered the den.

"Not too bad." Dau answered, "What was all that roaring?"

"My brother just became king." Chika answered with pride.

"Well congratulations to him. And you're fine with this? No "I should've been the heir to the throne" crap?"

"No I don't need to be queen, too much responsibility for me I'd rather just be the princess."

"That's good." Dau commented.

"Do you need any food or water?" Chika asked.

"Well now that you mention it I'm kinda hungry and thirsty." Dau answered.

"I'll get you some left overs and some water." Chika said, "I'll be right back."

Chika headed to Rafiki's tree where she would get a turtle shell and put water in it for Dau. When she got the turtle shell from Rafiki she headed straight to the water hole and filled it with cool water, having a drink for herself too. Then she went to pride rock for some leftover wildebeest. Within 5 minutes Chika was back at the den with food and water.

"Wow that was fast." Dau muttered as Chika came back into the den.

"Cuz I'm speedy." Chika smirked. Dau munched on the wildebeest leg hungrily then gulped the water.

"You're gonna give yourself a stomach ache." Chika giggled.

"No I'm not!" Dau argued playfully.

"Whatever!" Chika laughed. Suddenly Buru walked into the den.

"Hey honey." Chika greeted.

"Hey." Buru greeted back with a loving nuzzle, "Are you sleeping in here or back at pride rock?"

"Here, Dau might need me and I wouldn't wanna leave him all alone." Chika replied.

"Alright well I'm gonna stay in here with you too then." Buru grinned. Chika and Buru lay down in the den beside Dau and the three fell asleep. Back at pride rock Kiara sat at the very top of pride rock. She let out the tears she had been holding in all day with heavy sobs. As she stopped crying she turned around and saw a ghostly presence that looked like Kovu.

"Darling I hate seeing you like this." The Kovu ghost breathed.

"Kovu?" Kiara said in disbelief, "It can't be you, you're dead."

"God let me come back for a while to help you cope." Kovu answered, "I'm in a better place Kiara. I'm with God now, in heaven. I'm with Simba, Mufasa, Sarabi, and all the great kings of the past. Turns out all animals go to heaven because we aren't like humans."

"Kovu I can't do this without you, I love you so much. It hurts that you won't be here with me and our future cub." Kiara whimpered.

"You have the whole pride to help you with the new cub." Kovu stated, "I have to go now, I love you."

"I love you too." Kiara sighed. The gust of wind the apparition disappeared.

"That was strange." Kiara mumbled.

**A/N I Hope you like this chapter! Please review or Chika will eat you haha just kidding but seriously review.**


	9. Seaver

Kione got up the next morning and having slept for nearly 24 hours his limbs needed a stretch. Kione slowly walked to the peak of pride rock with slight pain from his battle wounds. He looked out at his land and saw a form walking towards pride rock; it was the wild dog Chike. Kione moved to the stone-like steps to intercept the dog.

"May I speak to Kovu?" The dog asked.

"He died in battle." Kione informed, "but I'm the new king so what did you need to tell Kovu?"

"We had one mother in our pack that fought in the battle and she died but her pup still needs milk and we have no other pregnant dogs. This pup is my kid could you please find a lioness to take care of him until he's weaned?"

"Sure." Kione said, having sympathy for the dog, "we have a few pregnant lionesses in the pride and I think my sister's milk is ready."

"That's great, could I talk to her?" Chike asked.

"Yeah, follow me." Kione replied. Kione led Chike to the sunning rocks, expecting Chika to be there and he was right. On a rock Chika lay, sunlight bathed her in warmth.

"Chika, I have someone who wants to talk to you." Kione said.

"What is it?" Chika asked sleepily.

"I have a pup whose mother died in battle and they still need milk so I was gonna ask you, could you look after the pup until he's weaned?" Chike asked.

"Of course, I think my milk is ready. When are you planning to bring him?" Chika asked.

"I was going to go back to the den and bring him today." Chike replied.

"Sounds good, I'll wait for you at the water hole." Chika suggested.

"Okay, I'll see you in about an hour." Chike agreed.

Mali and Jina lay on the sunning rocks a few feet away, lightly dozing. Jina and Mali had really hit it off before their nap. Mali listened and understood how scared Jina was about coming to the new pride and she gave Jina advice on how to be likeable to the pride. While his sister was making many friends in the pride, Taj had none but Tavi and he was still out looking for Ruko. Taj lay by the water hole, bored and wondered where Jina was.

"Hi Taj." Dima greeted as she sat by the water in front of Taj. Taj made no sound he only nodded at the young lioness in front of him.

"Hey, I don't bite." Dima tried, hoping to befriend the young lion. Taj tried not to smile at Dima; he didn't know what to say.

"Why do you ignore me?" Dima asked with a hurt look in her eyes. Taj was sad that he'd hurt the little lioness but if he said something he was sure it would sound stupid. Taj began to walk away, which was easier for him.

"Hey! I don't like to be ignored like this!" Dima yelled. She began to run after the moody lion but instead of stopping in front of him she jumped on the large adolescent's back. Taj hardly took any attention to this; Dima was very light so he could easily carry her without a word. Dima put her paws around Taj's neck for better balance and he let out a small sigh that screamed "what is wrong with this lioness?!"

Chika smiled as she saw Dima jump on the new lion in the pride. She'd heard from gossip in the pride that the young lion, Taj, was very quiet and knew that Dima wouldn't take kindly to being ignored. She looked to the horizon to see if the wild dog was there and sure enough he was walking towards her with a small bundle in his mouth. As he got closer the heard the pup's whining and crying he was probably very hungry.

"Hey Chika, this is Seaver." Chike introduced.

"He's so cute! How old is he?" Chika asked.

"About four days old." Chike answered.

"And you're Chike right?" Chika asked.

"Yes, that would be me." Chike smiled.

"Well I'll let you two get acquainted, goodbye Chika bye Seaver." Chike waved.

"Bye Chike." Chika smiled. She looked at the small, squirmy puppy Chike set in her paws. He was very small, smaller than a newborn lion cub; he also had a brown pelt with closed eyes. _Yes that's right wild dog pups are born with closed eyes and they also can't hear until about a week of life. _Chika wasted no time in letting the pup nurse; she felt the pup draw milk from her. She couldn't get enough of the small pup; he was just so darn cute. _Hmm our pride is practically made of different animals. First two leopards and now a wild dog, we're like a big extended family._ Chika thought. She softly bathed the pup with her tongue and soon he was fast asleep.

"I think we would be much more comfortable on the sunning rocks." Chika whispered to both Seaver and herself. As she got to the sunning rocks she spotted a very happy Kali. She was humming a lullaby Chika recognized from her childhood and had her head resting on her paws with a small smile.

"Well someone's in a good mood." Chika giggled through the puppy in her mouth.

"Yeah, whoa is that a _dog?"_ Kali asked.

"Yeah I'll explain later but why are you so happy and why are you humming that lullaby your mom used to sing to us?" Chika asked impatiently.

"I'm pregnant." Kali smiled, "I came into season in the middle of the battle and dragged Akida from the battle field."

"This is great news Kali!" Chika exclaimed, "Our cubs can be friends!"

"Yeah! But your triplets will be about a month older than mine." Kali observed.

"That's okay they'll be like Jao and Tavi, they're about a month apart." Chika commented.

"Yeah you're right, now who is this?" Kali asked.

"This is Seaver, his mother died fighting with our pride, poor darling, and I'm taking care of him until he doesn't need milk anymore." Chika replied.

"Your milk is ready?" Kali inquired.

"Yeah, I'm about a month along so it's good to go." Chika answered.

"Well it's a good thing you're doing this, can I see him?" Kali asked.

"Sure you can." Chika grinned as she picked up the sleeping pup.

"He's adorable." Kali exclaimed quietly. She examined the little puppy in her paws. The first thing she noticed was that the puppy was very small and his pelt was a very dark brown.

"I know I fell in love with him the minute Chike brought him to me." Chika smiled.

"Aren't you afraid that you two will get attached to each other and when it's time for him to leave you won't want to?" Kali asked.

"Well yeah but I'm just gonna enjoy the time I have with him." Chika answered.

"That's a good idea." Kali nodded. About a week passed and Kiara, Binta, and Naja all had their cubs. Naja's was the last born but she was still a little early. The cub was a girl and she had yellow fur like her mother, green eyes, rounded cheeks, a pride lander nose, and bangs kind of like Vitani's. Naja's labor was slightly difficult and lasted for three hours. Naja and Runako decided to name her Meena. Kiara had her cub second out of the three lionesses. It was a boy named Kovu, after her lost husband. He looked just like Kovu but he had her royal red eyes, and Kiara couldn't be happier with him. Her labor was very difficult and Rafiki said she shouldn't have any more cubs. Binta had her cub first it was a lively boy. He had a few freckles, a brown pelt, grey eyes, fluffy cheeks, and a pride lander nose. Binta named him Malik after his rouge father. Her labor, unlike the other lionesses was very easy and took 45 minutes at most; Rafiki said if she wanted more cubs she was in perfect health to do so.

Seaver had grown slightly and had finally opened his eyes and he could hear. Chika marveled at the pup's big brown eyes; they reminded her of Buru's. Dau's wounds had gotten better and he could walk short distances. Because of this Dau had re-met Kidogo and they became close friends. Without Daren ruling his life Dau was a much nicer lion and he actually became friends with a few lionesses in the pride. Chika still took care of Dau though he didn't need as much attention as he did when he was first in her care. Chika's stomach started to grow considerably and her love for Buru had grown also. Buru and Chika were inseparable; they were always together and often went on little "dates". They would go to the jungle where Simba and Nala fell in love, or to large fields and catch some prey for themselves. The search for Ruko was unsuccessful and he remained missing. This was very hard on Dima, Mali, Solo, Jao, Tavi, Baya, and even Isis who didn't even know him very well. Jina began to see Mali as her mother and Mali saw her as the daughter she never had. Mali was like the cool adult in Jina's life and she trusted Mali with everything.

Tavi and Jina were both hanging out under the shade of a tree at the water hole, which was like the teen hang out. Jina flirted with Tavi a lot and he did the same back and this didn't go unnoticed by Baya. Every time she saw Jina lightly touch Tavi's arm or flip her tail under his chin she growled softly under her breath. Currently Jina and Tavi were walking back from the gorge laughing so hard they were out of breath.

"Did you see the look on his face!?" Jina exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Tavi said breathlessly.

"What are you guys laughing about?" Jao asked.

"There was this wildebeest and he tripped down the thing and oh it was just- well you had to be there to know how funny it was." Tavi tried to explain.

"Okay well do you guys wanna hang out with me, Isis, Dima, Taj, and Baya?" Jao asked.

"Uh, sure." Tavi answered hesitantly.

"Alright common follow me." Jao grinned. Jao led the two behind pride rock where there was a tree and a stream coming from the rock.

"Wow this is cool!" Jina exclaimed. Baya growled as she saw Jina walking with Tavi towards her. _Ugh she is so annoying! Stop yelling you stupid lioness. _Baya growled to herself. _Oh Tavi I was stupid to try and have some fun with that big lion from Daren's pride!_

Jina wasn't the only one flirting nonstop with a lion, Dima was also being quite a flirt with Taj and he seemed to be warming up to her. In her paws Dima held Seaver, since she was the pup's babysitter when Chika wanted some alone time with Buru. Taj and Dima were cooing over the yawning puppy, Taj even said some things to Dima like "isn't he so cute?" and he also asked her what his name was. Jina smiled as her brother began to come out of his shell and talk to Dima.

"Can you say Dima?" Dima cooed to the puppy. Seaver simply yipped at the lioness and tilted his dark brown head.

"I don't think he's gonna be talking soon." Taj said quietly.

"Well you never know I was an early talker." Dima shrugged.

"I bet." Taj teased.

"I bet you were a late talker." Dima teased back

"I was, I could talk but I didn't want to." Taj admitted.

"Is that why you ignore me most of the time?" Dima asked, softly rubbing her tail against Taj's side. Tavi's answer was interrupted by Chika walking over to the adolescents and going to her daughter.

"Dima, I'm back you don't have to watch Seaver anymore." Chika called.

"Alright come get him." Dima said. Chika walked to her daughter and picked up her little pup.

"Thank you Hun." Chika said through Seaver in her mouth.

"You're welcome." Dima said. As the light faded from the day all 7 adolescents left the back of pride rock. Dima made sure to sleep near Taj, she thought he was so attractive. Dima managed to sandwich herself in between Baya and Taj. Dima let her pelt softly touch his and the grey lion didn't move. On closer inspection she noticed Taj's mane and tail weren't dark brown they were black. Taj had his eyes closed but Dima could tell he wasn't sleeping, so she inspected the large teenage lion. Taj was very tall, about Jao's height, with huge muscles like all the other River pride lions and lionesses. Taj sat upright and opened his green eyes quickly; he shook his growing man and shuddered.

"Something wrong, Taj?" Dima whispered. Taj shook his head and bolted out of the den, Dima ran after the lion, running as quiet as she could. She followed Taj to the water hole and slowly approached the mysterious lion.

"Look I don't know why you hate me for no reason but can't you understand that I'm trying to be your friend!?" Dima shouted.

"I don't need anyone to make me happy! I'm not going to become friends with a bunch of lions and have them stab me in the back!" Taj shouted back.

"Maybe if you just let someone in, you'd find that not everyone is going to hurt you in some way." Dima said, softening her tone.

"I don't even know what I'm doing." Taj muttered, sounding very upset.

"If you want you can talk to me, I'll always be here for you, I promise." Dima whispered, moving to the grey lion's side and putting a paw on his. Taj accepted Dima's invitation and buried his head in Dima's soft chest. He looked up and smiled slightly and began explaining how his life in Daren's pride was perfect in his cub hood.

"Dumaka was like a father figure to me after my mother died and Kasim abandoned me and Jina. He took us in and told me that I was going to be the next ruler and that Jao was just a fake heir to keep Daren happy and I believed it. But as I grew to where my mane was growing in on the very top of my head, Dumaka began training me hard. He was the only lion I ever trusted and he abused me for power, making me very bitter and quiet as you can see. I began to resent him and eventually I convinced my sister that he and Daren were nothing but trouble. We were too afraid to run away so we fought in the war because we had to." Taj explained, "When your friend Tavi led us to a cave until the war was over I was relieved and didn't talk much. He and my sister seemed to click instantly and he invited us to stay in the pride lands she accepted right away. I wasn't sure about living here with new lions and I'm still not sure but I can't and won't leave my only family member, but I really feel like I don't belong here. And I keep having these nightmares of my cub hood and Dumaka abusing me, I just feel like I can never get away from him."

"Taj I know your life has been terrible but you need to learn to trust people and just let go. You belong here I can feel it you have so much to offer to our pride." Dima said.

"Like what?" Taj asked in a bitter tone.

"You are the biggest lion my age that I've ever seen, you can help protect the pride, help hunt, and if a female needs your assistance you could father some cubs." Dima replied.

"I'm sure that no lioness in this pride would come to me for cubs." Taj almost laughed.

"Are you kidding!?" Dima scoffed, "Just today me, Baya, and Isis were talking about how attractive you are! Any lioness would kill for cubs from you."

Taj shot Dima an awkward glance but she just kept the straight face she had before.

"I don't really know what to say to that." Taj said slowly.

"How about thanks? Now common we should get back to bed." Dima giggled.

"Alright." Taj agreed and started to trail the small yet bold pale lioness. The two adolescents walked into the warm cave and tip toed to where they were before. Taj and Dima laid down and fell asleep closer than they were before.


	10. Goodbye

**A/N Another time warp coming up! Don't worry it might not be in this chapter but it still could, I'm not sure. Well read, review, and enjoy.**

Chika awoke to the sound of Seaver whining and pawing at her heavily pregnant belly. Chika grinned, "I'm sorry sweetie, do you want some breakfast?"

Seaver yipped as if to answer Chika. Chika looked around and noticed she must've fallen asleep on the sunning rocks. She turned to her side so Seaver could drink some milk. She heard paw steps from behind her, it was Buru.

"Hi honey, did you just notice I was gone?" Chika asked with a smile.

"No, I woke up around dawn and went to eat some breakfast." Buru answered.

"Oh, that's right you were here when I fell asleep." Chika giggled. Buru purred and licked Chika's forehead then softly kissed her neck. Dima and Taj were currently resting on some sunning rocks closer to the top of the hill and could see the forms of Chika, Buru, and little Seaver. Taj was resting his eyes when Dima interrupted him with a sigh.

"What?" Taj asked with a small laugh.

"I just hope someday I'll have a loving mate like my mom does." Dima said dreamily. Taj raised an eyebrow at what Dima said, to him she seemed like the kind of lioness that wanted independence and could do things without a male in her life.

"Really? I always kinda thought of you as more of an independent lioness." Taj said.

"Well I like to do things my way and stuff like that but I think it would be nice to have a mate someday and have cubs. What about you?" Dima asked.

"Well if someday I find a lioness that I love I'll be thankful and appreciate her." Taj answered thoughtfully, "And how many cubs would you want to have?"

"Well Taj I think any lioness would be lucky to have you for a mate and personally I would want maybe three or four, what about you?" Dima inquired.

"I think three or four sounds good too." Taj agreed.

"I couldn't do five cubs like my mom is going to have!" Dima giggled.

"Me neither but she didn't exactly plan it like that I mean you and Jao were twins and now she's having triplets so she could've just had two cubs but I guess it didn't work that way." Taj said.

"Yeah you're right but I guess that's a good thing because my mom always said she wanted a big family, it would suck if she only wanted like two cubs." Dima exclaimed.

"Yeah she would've bit off more than she could chew." Taj agreed.

"Do you think I have ugly eyes?" Dima suddenly asked. Taj leaned in slightly to look at Dima's eyes and found that they were a very beautiful sky blue.

"No, not at all actually they're very beautiful. Why would you think that?" Taj asked.

"Jao was teasing me the other day and said I have ugly eyes, I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not but I kinda believed it." Dima replied.

"That's how brothers are, I've insulted Jina many times but I never mean it." Taj assured.

"Oh well thanks." Dima smiled.

Jina walked slowly and aimlessly through the pride lands, she didn't really care where her paws brought her. Her cheeks were stained from tears and her stomach hurt from breathing so heavily while sobbing.

"Jina!" A familiar voice yelled in a happy greeting. Jina looked up with the same sad expression and met eyes with Tavi.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tavi asked with concern.

"I'm fine I just got some bad news." Jina answered, close to tears.

"What is it?" Tavi asked.

"This strange monkey invited me to his tree and he said the great kings of the past told him that I lost my cub and I believe him because I'm supposed to be one and a half months and I'm not showing at all." Jina wailed. Tavi felt a pang in his chest seeing his friend cry, he pulled Jina into his chest and rubbed her scarred up back. He didn't know Jina was pregnant, it never really came up, but he assumed she was forced to mate with Daren.

"It's okay, you're only an adolescent so there's still plenty of time for you to find a mate and have cubs, please don't cry." Tavi cooed.

"I guess you're right but I got so used to the idea of having cubs and I started to get excited about having my own cubs." Jina sniffled.

"I know, but don't you think this probably happened for the best? I mean being a mom now all alone would be hard." Tavi tried to assure Jina.

"I guess you're right but I think I'm gonna take a walk and do some thinking by myself, okay?" Jina said, drying her tears.

"Alright, take it easy." Tavi smiled as he licked Jina softly on the forehead. Jina purred and nuzzled Tavi's chest. Tavi watched the lioness walk away with a smile, after only knowing her for a short time Tavi felt a strange connection with her and never wanted to see her cry again. Baya watched from behind a bush, she was taking a walk to clear her head when she came across the two hugging. She didn't know what to do so she hid so they wouldn't see her awkwardly walking by. Baya was having a hard time dealing with the fact that her ex was moving on, she felt crushed as her mind uncontrollably replayed Tavi giving Jina a loving lick on the forehead, it was her favorite thing he used to do to her but now that was all gone. Baya was sure that Tavi was starting to fall in love with the lioness. Baya decided to walk in the gorge, no one ever went there so she could cry without anyone seeing or judging her. First when she got there she just sat under the tree where Mufasa died and looked at her paws. Then one tear fell then another then she sobbed uncontrollably as she decided to lie down. Baya's breathing became out of control, her chest heaved in and out quickly. Last time she cried like this Tavi was there to comfort her but this time no one was there to rub her back and tell her that everything was going to be okay. After a while it felt good that she was crying like this so she thought of things to make her cry more. She thought about Ruko and what might have happened to him. _What if he's being tortured by malicious creatures as I sit here now? I shouldn't be so sorry for myself he could be enduring a slow painful death. _Baya thought to herself. She actually missed Ruko more than she thought, he was a great friend and she felt a strong urge to find him. _I should try and find him outside the pride lands, I can hunt for myself now and I don't think anyone would miss me that much other than my mother. _Baya thought it through in her head and decided to go with what her heart told her to do; she would spend the rest of the day in the pride lands, eat a huge dinner and leave with the cover of night.

"Hey Baya." Dima smiled.

"Hey Dee." Baya greeted, Baya called Dima 'Dee' sometimes as a nickname; she used to only call Dima 'Dee' when they were cubs but the nickname kinda wore out as they all grew older.

"My mom said we're on the hunting team tonight so we have to go to the bottom of pride rock to meet the others. And you know what I get to do? Lead the hunt!" Dima instructed.

"That's great, let's go." Baya grinned; she wanted to make her last night with her friends count. It then occurred to her that she may never return to her home._ Tonight I'm going to do the best I've ever done in the hunt and I'm going to be the nicest I can to my friends and have a great time and before bed I'm going to love my mother up. _Baya thought to herself. In minutes Dima was leading them towards a herd of zebras; zebra was Baya and Dima's favorite food. Jina lead the other half of the hunting party towards the other end of the heard of zebra. Dima gave the signal to attack and the lionesses sprang from the tall grasses. The zebra were very surprised and bolted; Dima chose a large injured female as their target. Dima separated the running animal from the herd Dotty jumped on its back and the zebra stumbled. The other 4 lionesses hunting with them piled on their prey while Dima tried to hold down its neck. Baya ran over and helped Dima.

"I'm sorry…" Baya whispered to the panicking zebra as she went for the killing bite. Life was over for the zebra but the pride would eat very well tonight for the second half of the hunting party caught a yearling zebra. The twelve lionesses dragged the two zebras back to pride rock with their strong teeth. Only four lionesses had to drag the yearling zebra but it took the other eight lionesses to drag the bigger zebra. The hunting party finally got to pride rock and roared for the rest of the pride to come eat. Kione and Safi walked down the steps of pride rock with the rest of the pride. Safi would be due any day and she had a large belly that looked as though she swallowed a ball. Chika and Buru walked behind them with little Seaver toddling beside Chika on unsteady paws. The pride waited anxiously as Kione and Safi ate their fill from the kill first. Kione and Safi soon finished and moved to a spot to rest and let their dinner settle. The rest of the pride swarmed around the kills and ate graciously. Chika ate turned slightly to the side so Seaver could also feed from her. Everyone began to settle down for bed after dinner, for some reason everything in the pride lands was perfect. Soon everyone was sleeping peacefully and all that could be heard was the soft breathing of 20 some lions and lionesses. But Baya was still awake and she knew that the time to leave was now. She slowly stood up and tip-toed past her friends. As she passed Jao she accidentally stepped on his paw, he pulled his paw away and groaned Baya froze. Jao's eyes flickered open and his face formed a confused expression.

"Baya what are you doing up?" Jao whispered, "Where are you going?"

"I have to go but don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Baya whispered back.

"Will I see you again?" Jao asked.

Baya thought for a second and answered, "I'm not sure."

"But you can't leave." Jao whined.

"Jao you have to let me go, I'll be fine." Baya assured him, "Just don't forget to remember me once in a while."

"Goodbye Baya." Jao whispered. He leaned in and nuzzled her softly, Baya gasped slightly when he gave her a small kiss on the cheek she nuzzled back and returned the kiss.

"Goodbye Jao." Baya smiled. She tip-toed out of the cave without stepping on anyone else and walked into the cool night air. The sky was filled with beautiful stars against a dark blue sky that reminded Baya of Tavi's new love's eyes. With that thought she began to run as fast as she could, away from everything she once knew, from her thoughts, her friends, and her family. She passed the waterhole and thought she should take a drink because she might not find water for a while. She didn't take a huge gulp because she knew that if she ran with a belly full of water she'd get a killer stomach ache. Baya began running again she ran and ran and ran like never before until she saw the sun's rays beginning to rise. She finally stopped and collapsed to the hard ground; she put her head up and looked around to see her surroundings. There was green grass below her, probably grounds where herd animals eat. Suddenly she felt very tired so she dropped her head down and fell asleep instantly. Baya awoke to some lion licking her cheek; she groaned and opened her eyes slowly.

"Where am I?" Baya croaked.

"You're safe here with me, I'm going back to my pride, the northern pride." The strange lion answered.

"How far away are the pride lands?" Baya asked.

"They're about a six day walk away, why?" He asked.

"I just wanted to know." Baya answered shortly.

"Do you want to come back to my pride with me?" He asked, "There's lots of lions and lionesses that I think you'll like."

"Sure, but I'm looking for someone." Baya agreed.

"Who?" He asked.

"You probably don't know him but his name is Ruko and he went missing about two weeks ago." Baya replied.

"Does he have a grey mane and a black pelt?" The lion asked.

"Yes! You know him?!" Baya exclaimed.

"Yeah, you see the lionesses in my pride search the lands around our lands for injured and lost lions and we help them to get better and give them a home with us. We found Ruko bloody, beaten, and starved half to death, we brought him back to our pride and he's doing pretty well now." The lion smiled.

"I knew he couldn't be dead." Baya whispered, "Can you take me to him?"

"Of course, it'll take about an hour to get back to my pride, by the way what is your name?" The lion asked.

"Baya, what is yours?" Baya answered.

"That's a beautiful name, I'm Zane." Zane smiled, "Now let's get going."

Baya slowly got to her paws and some joins cracked a little, she shook her fur and followed the orange lion. She studied the lion in front of her, he had and orange pelt with an auburn mane, he had vibrant yellow eyes, a black pride lander nose, fluffy cheeks, he was very tall and lanky, he had a very smooth silky looking mane, and was probably just a bit older than her.

Dima woke up, stretched, and looked to see if anyone else was awake. She turned her head to the right and came face to face with a yawning Taj.

"Ugh, morning breath!" Dima giggled.

"Sorry." Taj said groggily.

"That's fine; you wanna go to the water hole?" Dima asked.

"Sure, hey Jao's awake." Taj answered, "Jao do you wanna come with us?"

"Sure, let's go." Jao answered with a half roar half yawn. The three adolescents walked to the water hole, thinking Baya would be there.

"I wonder where Baya is." Dima murmured.

"She left last night." Jao said quietly.

"What!? Did you try and stop her?!" Dima exclaimed.

"Yeah but she insisted on leaving." Jao said, feeling very guilty.

"Where?" Dima said in a breath.

"She wouldn't tell me." Jao said to his paws.

"We have to tell Kione or Safi, come on!" Dima insisted.

"Good idea." Jao said following Dima. The three adolescents ran all the way back to pride rock and looked for Kione and Safi. Dima spotted the king and queen coming down from pride rock.

"Kione!" Dima yelled.

**A/N Hey guys! I hope you liked this chapter, please review and tell me if you liked it or not. I'll try to update as soon as possible **


	11. Babysitting

"It's not much further to my pride; see that big tree and that rock next to it?" Zane asked pointing to the distance with his claw.

"Yeah; is that your pride's den?" Baya asked.

"Yup; it's nice inside the cave, real big, warm at night and cool during the day." Zane explained.

"It sounds nice; you wanna run the rest of the way?" Baya asked.

"Sure, I bet I'll beat you there." Zane smirked.

"Oh yeah? Well we'll see about that!" Baya giggled as she started to run ahead.

"Hey that's cheating!" Zane yelled as he kicked into a run. The two lions ran side by side when Baya started to pull up in front of Zane. She left him in the dust and laughed the rest of the way. She reached the tree, stopped, and started panting to get her breath back.

"I win!" Baya panted.

"You cheated." Zane accused with mock anger.

"Whatever, now where's Ruko?" Baya said in a rush.

"Probably in the den." Zane answered, "Let's go."

"What is it?" Kione asked.

"Baya left the pride lands." Jao uttered.

"Are you sure she willingly left?" Kione asked.

"Yeah Jao talked to her." Dima replied.

"Jao, Tell me what she said." Kione ordered.

"Well I saw her leaving at night because she stepped on my paw and I woke up. I asked her why she was up and where she was going and she told me not to worry and that she'd be fine and I asked her if I would see her again and she said she wasn't sure so I told her she couldn't go and she said I had to let her go and to remember her once in a while and then we nuzzled goodbye." Jao explained. He felt bad about the kiss he gave Baya the night before and wondered if he should tell Isis.

"Well no lion or lioness is bound to the pride lands, everyone here can leave if they want to. And I think Baya is at an age where she can decide for herself and maybe she's happier where ever she is." Kione said with logic.

"Maybe you're right." Dima mumbled.

"I'm sorry Dima." Kione apologized, "Let's just hope and pray that she'll come back someday."

"It's okay Kione." Dima said with a reassuring smile. The three adolescents left to go to the sunning rocks. Dima picked her favorite rock, the one on top of the hill that overlooked all the other rocks. Taj and Dima conversed while Jao thought about whether he should tell Isis or not. _Common it's just a little kiss on the cheek! I'm making a bigger deal out of it than I should. But why did I kiss her in the first place? I love Isis not Baya, I just did it on impulse for a sweet goodbye. _Jao assured himself.

"Ruko! Are you in here?" Baya yelled in the cave. Her eyes scanned the cave and she saw about fifteen lions and lionesses but she was looking for one black pelted lion. She finally spotted a black lion sleeping with many scars and scabs on his body, she could tell that this was her friend.

"Ruko!" Baya yelled. She ran across the den to the sleeping lion and jumped on his back. He shot upright and yelled a cry of fear.

"Baya?!" Ruko yelled in excitement, "It's you I can't believe it! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"I thought I'd never see _you _again!" Baya yelled back, "What happened, why did you leave?"

"Well there was this beautiful lioness I was fighting with and I had her pinned she told me we could run away together so I believed her but she tricked me, she took me far away from the pride lands and nearly killed me luckily I was found by Zane and brought here where all these lionesses nursed me back to health." Ruko explained.

"Why haven't you come back?" Baya asked, "Our whole pride is worried sick about you, Tavi and Jao spent days looking for you; they even missed Kione's crowning searching for you."

"No one knows the way back but Zane and a group of hyenas that surrounds the pride lands borders want him dead and he said it's too risky to travel close to the pride lands." Ruko sighed.

"Well I know the way; I ran most of it and walked the rest of the way here with Zane. I can take you back what do you say?" Baya begged.

"I'm not sure, I really like it here and you will too; I'm gonna have to think about it but while I'm thinking let's just stay here and enjoy this pride's hospitality." Ruko suggested.

"Fine but if I don't like it here I'm dragging you back to the pride lands." Baya smirked.

"Fine." Ruko joked in mock anger. Baya laughed and studied the den; it was cool inside compared to the African heat, it was filled with some lionesses that were very healthy looking and other lionesses that were in terrible shape, one didn't even have a right front leg, also there was only two males in the pride, Zane and Ruko.

"Hi Ruko, how are you feeling today?" a golden lioness asked Ruko.

"Feeling great, Ami." Ruko smiled. Baya studied the pretty lioness, she had dark red eyes, a darker golden or light brown, tail tuft, a pink outlander nose, fluffy cheeks, and she looked to be a bit younger than Ruko and herself she was probably a young adolescent.

"Do you need any medicine for your healing wounds?" Ami asked.

"Nah they're mostly scabs now but they kinda itch, do you have anything for that?" Ruko asked.

"Yeah, I'll go get some banana peels from the monkeys and we'll rub them on where it itches." Ami answered.

"How does that help?" Ruko asked, tilting his head.

"I'm not sure it just works!" Ami grinned, she said goodbye to Ruko and Baya then left to get some banana peels.

"Who was that?" Baya asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

"That's just my little 'nurse', she checks in on me and helps with my wounds." Ruko replied, blushing under his fur.

"You have a thing with her don't you?" Baya teased.

"No! I mean she's a very attractive lioness but common Baya why would she like me?" Ruko asked.

"Well what's not to like? You're sexy, you have a nice mane, and you're funny, smart, nice, and fun to be around." Baya replied.

"Okay Baya, whatever you say." Ruko said sarcastically. Baya rolled her eyes and put her head on her paws, hoping for sleep to come.

"Hey Dima can you watch Kovu, Meena, and Malik?" Binta asked, "Your grandmother is on a walk or something and me and Naja want to have some relaxation time."

"Sure, I love cubs." Dima agreed.

"Thanks Dima, alright kids stay with Dima and do what she says, we'll be back later." Binta said to the cubs. Binta and Naja said goodbye to their cubs and little Kovu then left to lie in the sun. The three cubs ran over to Dima with smiles.

"Hi Dima!" Meena giggled.

"Are we gonna have fun today!?" Kovu asked in his sweet little cub voice.

"Yes we are, we're gonna go to the water hole and see some of my friends and y'all can play by us." Dima answered.

"Yay we get to hang out with the big kids!" Meena cheered, Kovu jumped up and down excitedly along with Meena and Malik just smiled shyly.

"Alright come with me you little cuties!" Dima squealed. The three cubs trotted alongside Dima and giggled happily, it wasn't every day they got to be with someone other than their mothers.

"Hey guys guess who's joining us today?" Dima grinned. Jao, Taj, and Jina looked behind Dima and smiled as three lively cubs bounded over to them.

"Aw, they're so cute!" Isis cooed as Kovu bounded into her paws.

"Hi! I'm Kovu!" Kovu introduced.

"I'm Isis; you look like quite the ladies man." Isis smiled; she rubbed his little tuft of fur on the top of his head.

"Well… Meena does dig me." Kovu bragged, shooting a flirty look at Meena.

"Ugh, you wish!" Meena scowled with her tongue out, as if she tasted something bad. The three adolescents laughed at the cub's antics. Malik just stood awkwardly about a foot away from the group while the other two cubs wrestled in the middle of the circle of lions.

"Malik, why don't you play with Meena and Kovu?" Dima asked. Malik didn't answer he just shrugged.

"Are they mean to you?" Dima asked the small, quiet cub.

"No, it's just wrestling is more of a two player game and there are three of us so… One of us has to not play." Malik answered quietly.

"Is it always you who has to sit out?" Dima asked.

"Well yeah but I don't really mind." Malik replied.

"Well I don't think wrestling is only a two person game, why don't you go jump in?" Dima suggested.

"Okay but if they get mad it's your fault." Malik muttered. Malik took a running start and jumped on the two wrestling cubs. Meena laughed and tried to pin Malik while Kovu jumped on her back. The three cubs laughed and played for a while and eventually got tired and joined the adolescent's conversation. Tavi joined the group with a yawn and sat next to Jina. Malik sat between Taj and Dima and looked at his paws; he was a rather shy cub especially around older lions and lionesses. Kovu sat in Isis's paws and leaned against her warm chest and Meena sat in Tavi's large chest mane, it had grown thick and would soon meet the mane growing around his head and neck.

"Malik would you like to sit by me?" Dima asked, referring to how the other cubs were sitting.

"Sure." Malik replied quietly. Dima scooted the circle in so she could be closer to Taj and Jao and get rid of unnecessary space. Malik jumped into Dima's paws and settled against her fluffy chest. Around the circle it was Jina next to Tavi, Tavi next to Jao, Jao next to Dima, Dima next to Taj, and Taj next to Jina.

"Have you guys seen Baya?" Tavi asked.

"She left last night, why were you looking for her?" Dima asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No! I just noticed she wasn't in the den or with you guys and well it's not like I don't care about her…" Tavi trailed off, "And what do you mean she left?!"

"She didn't tell me where she was going but she said she wasn't sure if she was coming back." Jao said.

"So I might not ever see her again?" Tavi asked.

"Pretty much, you don't still like her do you?" Jao asked carefully.

"No, why would you think that? I've moved on from her and I couldn't care less if she never came back, it was her decision to leave and I have no control over what she does." Tavi replied like it was the stupidest question in the world.

"Whatever you say…" Dima teased.

"I'm not lying!" Tavi whined, "I swear!"

"What's all the yelling about!?" Meena shouted; she was sleeping before Tavi raised his voice.

"Sorry sweetie." Tavi apologized.

"It's okay." Meena yawned, "My mommy said that about 5 new cubs will be here soon when is soon? I'm tired of being the only girl my age."

"In about a week you'll have a new girl to play with and in two weeks you'll have two more girls to play with and a boy and then a while from now you'll have another boy to play with." Dima answered the young cub's question.

"Well what's wrong with boys?" Kovu asked; he and Malik had also woken up from Tavi's yelling.

"Yeah!" Malik chimed in.

"Well boys are yucky!" Meena answered.

"Hey!" Tavi, Jao, Kovu, and Malik all yelled in unison.

"Not _older_ boys just boys my age, I like older boys." Meena smiled looking up at Tavi. Tavi laughed and ruffled the little cub's bangs.

"You and him should have a cub together but it should be a boy because girls are dumb!" Malik suggested directing the last part of his sentence at Meena.

"How rude!" Meena commented.

"I don't know Taj doesn't seem like he'd be a good dad!" Dima teased as she rubbed her tail along his side.

"Oh yeah? Well you don't seem like you'd be a good mother!" Taj smirked.

"Who's the one lioness's ask to cub sit for them?" Dima shot back.

"Alright you win I got nothing." Taj gave in.

"That's what I thought!" Dima smiled triumphantly, "And Malik I think we have too many cubs around here to start with."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kovu asked in a slightly offended tone.

"I'm just saying there's only so much food to go around so I think everyone should hold off on cubs for a while now." Dima explained.

"Oh maybe that's a good idea, if we ran out of food that would be bad." Kovu agreed.

"Oh look I think I see your mother's coming to pick you up." Dima said, pointing to the direction Naja and Binta were coming in.

"Hey kids did you guys have fun today?" Binta asked as she and Naja approached.

"Yeah! We like Dima and her friends!" Meena replied happily.

"Well maybe she should babysit more often." Binta said while looking at Dima for approval.

"I'll babysit any time you like, these kids are fun." Dima smiled.

"Great well kids say goodbye, lunch should be here soon and you three need bathes and Kovu we have to walk you to your mother for a bath too." Naja informed the cubs.

"Aww bathes…?" The three cubs whined in unison. Naja and Binta both nodded at the same time and began to walk away.

"Bye Dima, bye Dima's friends!" Malik waved.

"Bye guys, see you at lunch!" Meena smiled as she rubbed her head on Tavi's big chest.

"Later squirt." Tavi smiled.

"Bye!" Kovu grinned, "Thanks for playing with us today."

"You're welcome Kovu." Isis giggled; she loved the cute little cub. The three cubs and their mothers walked to pride rock and waited for lunch and the adolescents thought it would be a good idea too so everyone waited at pride rock for lunch to come.

**A/N Wow I'm really getting these chapters done fast! Don't get used to it **** hope y'all liked this chapter and well if you didn't good for you!**


	12. Lulu

Lunch arrived quickly and the pride ate every last bit of meat there was to eat.

"Oh Kione! It's time!" Safi wailed as she put a paw to her stomach.

"Dotty go get Rafiki, Safi and I will be in the den everyone else stay outside the den." Kione ordered. He helped Safi step up the stair like stones leading to the den and lay next to his scared wife.

"Kione I'm scared." Safi cried.

"It's going to be alright, if millions of females in every species can do it you can too." Kione assured Safi.

"You think so?" Safi asked.

"I know so." Kione replied. Suddenly Dotty and Rafiki walked into the den; Dotty carried a turtle shell full of water and Rafiki carried the juices used to crown newborn heirs, they would be having the celebration of the new princess right after Safi gave birth. The turtle shell was big enough for Safi to sit in for she had requested to do water birth.

"Alright Safi are you comfortable?" Dotty asked.

"Yes well not really with these contractions." Safi answered. She was sitting in the large turtle shell and she leaned her back against both Kione and the den wall.

"Well Safi you're dilated enough to start pushing so when you feel a contraction push as hard as you can." Rafiki instructed.

"Okay." Safi nodded in a small voice. Safi grunted and started pushing as hard as she could; Kione was at her side and held her paw with support.

"Alright come on we can see the cub's head starting to come out." Dotty informed, "Keep pushing until the pain stops."

"You're doing great honey." Kione smiled. Safi let out a groan as the pain stopped and laid her head back against the wall.

"Alright at your pace the next contraction should be in about a minute." Dotty said to Safi.

"Oh! One minute my ass!" Safi said through clenched teeth.

"Keep pushing, the cub's head is almost out." Dotty ordered. This contraction was a bit longer than the others and Safi managed to get the cub's head and half of her shoulders out.

"Okay on the next contraction we're gonna try and get the shoulders out, sound like a plan?" Dotty asked.

"Yeah I can do it." Safi agreed quietly. The next contraction came and Safi let out a small cry of pain as the shoulders came out.

"Safi I can see her she's beautiful." Kione breathed as he moved to Safi's tail end.

"Is she almost out?" Safi asked breathlessly.

"We just have to get the belly, butt, and back legs out." Kione answered.

"How long have we been in here?' Safi asked.

"Almost an hour." Rafiki answered. Safi let out a small cry of pain as she felt another contraction, she pushed as hard as she could and squeezed Kione's paw as hard as she could also.

"Ow Safi, you got quite a good grip." Kione commented, shaking his paw as Safi let go.

"Sorry." Safi apologized.

"Alright Safi we just have to get the hips and legs out and I think you can do it on the next contraction so I want you to give it all you got in about 30 seconds." Dotty said.

"Alright." Safi said quietly. Safi felt the contraction and thrust her head forward with speed, head butting Kione's head in the process. Safi didn't acknowledge hitting Kione; she was too concentrated on pushing. However Kione lay on the den floor, groaning in pain.

"Keep pushing!" Kione yelled he sat up and rubbed his head, "Ugh you have _no_ idea how much this hurts!"

Safi and Dotty both shot Kione a look that said "are you kidding me?!"

"Right, sorry." Kione apologized. Dotty gasped as a bundle of fur slipped into the water, she lifted the small, wet cub in her paws as she started to cry. Safi gasped as tears started to form in her eyes. The little cub had a golden leopard colored coat, it looked fluffy rather than coarse like a lion's, she also had a small pink pride lander nose, green eyes like her father, fluffy cheeks, and leopard spots around her belly, obviously from her mother.

"Can I hold my baby?" Safi asked, near tears.

"Of course." Dotty smiled. Dotty grabbed the turtle shell from under Safi and went to go dump it out.

"What should we name her?" Safi asked, still looking at the little cub.

"Whatever you want to name her." Kione smiled he started to lick Safi's hips and lower stomach to dry her off and Safi did the same with her newborn cub.

"Lulu, her name is Lulu." Safi smiled.

"The perfect name for our perfect daughter." Kione breathed.

"Now Safi if you don't mind I need to crown Lulu." Rafiki said quietly, he felt bad about interrupting Kione and Safi's moment.

"Of course." Safi grinned, holding Lulu out for Rafiki to grab. He did the same thing he did for Kione, Chika, and all the other royal cubs of the past. Kione, Safi, and Rafiki walked out of the den to an eager pride and a whole kingdom of animals. The pride walked down to where all the other animals were standing and waiting. Safi and Kione watched near the tip of pride rock as Rafiki stepped out onto the edge to present the cub to the kingdom and the great kings of the past. Sunlight broke through the clouds as a soft wind blew; everyone looked to the sky and saw a glimpse of Sarabi, Mufasa, Simba, and Kovu. Both Nala and Kiara smiled as their husbands appeared in heaven with all the great kings of the past. Lulu giggled as the wind blew against her fluffy fur; a flower blew in the wind by her face and landed in the small crease between her ear and forehead. She tried to grab the flower off her head but she just pushed it off her head, Rafiki cradled her in his arms again and grabbed the flower from the air; it was an African violet with white in the center that faded to pink. He placed the flower behind her ear and tied it to a longer piece of her fur; it stayed in place and made the new princess look even more beautiful than she already was. Rafiki walked back to the proud parents and let Safi grab the princess by her scruff. Safi nuzzled Kione with a smile and retreated to the cave; she was very tired. The pride swarmed in as they were allowed to by Kione, everyone was excited to see the new cub especially the other cubs. Safi greeted the pride with a tired smile and a soft 'hello'.

"Safi she's beautiful." Chika murmured.

"I know, she's so perfect; I've only known her for about an hour and I already love her more than anything in the world." Safi said dreamily.

Kione, who was sitting beside Safi, cleared his throat loud enough to get his mate's attention.

"Oh I love you too Kione but I think our daughter outranks you a bit." Safi teased with a playful shove. Lulu sat in her mother's paws fast asleep; Safi wanted to join her more than anything but she knew she had to stay up and get an eyeful of her precious cub. _I love her so much if I had to I would die for her, maybe this is why my mother threw me out of harm's way when she died, because she felt a deep love for me._

"I'm so happy for you honey." Kamau grinned at his daughter.

"Thank you dad, you know I think she looks kind of like you." Safi commented.

"How? I'm dark as night with gold-ish eyes and she's golden with green eyes?" Kamau questioned.

"No I mean her facial structure is kind of like yours." Safi explained.

"Hm I guess you're right." Kamau agreed.

"Alright guys I think Safi and Lulu need some rest so I think it's best if everyone hangs out outside the den so she can get some peace and quiet." Kione ordered. The pride listened to their king and slowly migrated out of the den. Dima, Taj, Jao, Isis, Jina, and Tavi all hung out behind pride rock after the excitement.

"Did y'all see her? She was so cute!" Dima exclaimed.

"Yeah, I love cubs." Taj smiled.

"Really? You don't seem like the cub loving type." Tavi said with his head cocked.

"Well I am, back in the river pride whenever the new cubs would be born I always had to babysit; I used to hate it but I grew to love it." Taj explained.

"So you used to guard the cave _and_ cubsit?" Tavi asked.

"Guarding was my night job and cubsitting way my day job." Taj answered.

"Seems like a lot of work." Tavi commented.

"Well over there everyone had to have a job for both day and night so no one would get bored." Taj said.

"When did you sleep?" Dima asked.

"There were shifts. Like I'd cubsit for half the day then sleep for the rest, then I'd guard for half the night and sleep when the other guard showed up." Taj answered.

"That must've been so tiring." Tavi commented.

"Yeah… But let's not talk about that." Taj suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Jao agreed. Dima noticed that almost every time the adolescents started to have an innocent conversation eventually the conversation would turn to the River pride and Daren. Luckily for Jina, Taj, Jao, and Isis the conversation turned to a happier topic: pride customs.

"Have you guys heard of those prides that kick out the males when they get around our age?" Jina asked.

"Yeah, why do they do that?" Dima answered.

"Well some males are really territorial and scared of younger males taking over their lands and breeding with their females so they kick out the young males. " Tavi answered as he began to groom his paw.

"That must be why there's so many rouges." Jao commented.

"Well there are those lions and lionesses that leave by choice to start their own prides." Isis added.

"True; someday I'd like to do that you know travel Africa, visit prides that wouldn't mind me, maybe find a mate and some other lionesses that would be willing to join a pride with me as the king." Tavi shared.

"That sounds fun, something I'd want to do." Jina agreed.

"Maybe we could travel Africa together." Tavi suggested with a smile, "And go where no lion has every gone, we could go to cold places beyond Africa."

"There are no cold places beyond Africa." Jina giggled.

"Yes there are! One time when we were cubs this leopard passed though the pride lands and told me and… Baya…" Tavi said quietly," That he came from a place where large striped lions called tigers lived and smaller grey leopards also lived."

"Okay…" Jina said with a doubtful smile that said 'I still don't believe you'.

Safi walked towards where Zazu said he spotted a fight between a young adult lion and a male leopard. Zazu had just come back from visiting all his family around Africa and now served once again as the majordomo. Rafiki had taken a large leaf and some vines to create a cub carrier thing for baby Lulu to accompany her mother on her queenly duties.

"Hey! You two!" Safi barked.

The young lion looked up from the leopard he was currently standing on, "Who are you?"

"I am the queen of these lands and I was sent here by my majordomo because of a fight going on here." Safi answered the young lion's question. She looked at the two; the leopard had the common golden pelt that most leopards had and eyes the color of honey, the lion was a dark golden color with a dirty blonde mane, he had indescribable green eyes they weren't bright green but more of a natural looking green, and his voice sounded very funny to her she'd never heard anything like it; but altogether Safi thought he was a very handsome lion.

"Look I'm sorry I didn't mean to cause any-"

"Save it, you're fine I just want to settle this calmly and rationally." Safi interrupted the lion.

"Why are you two fighting?" Safi asked. The young lion stepped off the leopard and dusted his arm off.

"Well I was just enjoying a peaceful meal," The leopard started, gesturing to a dead wildebeest a few feet away, "When this guy came and tried to steal it!"

"Why did you try to steal his food?" Safi asked the lion softly.

"I've been traveling since I was a young adolescent, because I was kicked out of my old pride, and I never get a decent meal anymore and I guess the hunger just swept over me and I reacted on impulse." The lion explained; Safi noticed as he was talking he said 'w' like 'v'.

"Did that give you the right to steal?" Safi asked with a look that a mother would give a child while scolding them.

"No, I'm sorry your highness." The lion apologized while looking at his paws.

"Don't apologize to me; I wasn't the one you tried to steal from." Safi said.

"Oh, right sorry Sir for trying to steal your food." He said to the leopard.

"It's fine I guess, can I go now your highness?" The leopard asked.

"Yes you may." Safi smiled.

"Can I go too?" The lion asked.

"No." Safi replied shortly.

"Why?" The golden lion asked with his strange accent.

"I want to talk to you, come sit by me." Safi ordered, "What is your name?"

"My name is Jager." Jager answered.

"I'm Safi, if you were wondering and you can call me that; I prefer it over 'your highness'." Safi said in a mocking tone.

"Okay Safi, what is it you want to talk about?" Jager asked.

"Why were you kicked out of your pride?" Safi asked without answering Jager.

"My pride leader thought I was too old and he feared I would take over his pride." Jager answered.

"Oh well are you looking for a new home?" Safi asked.

"Yeah but not a lot of prides take very kindly to a young male going into their lands." Jager answered.

"Well a male in our pride is going to leave soon and he's taking about 10 lionesses with him, would you like to join our pride?" Safi asked.

"I would love to join your pride but I have one question." Jager stated.

"What is that?" Safi asked with a smile.

"Why would you let a lion take your lionesses?" Jager asked with a very confused expression.

"Well in the pride lands no one everyone has a choice of what they want to do or where they want to go." Safi replied.

"That's strange but I like it." Jager smiled. Suddenly Lulu woke up from her nap and started to cry.

"I'm sorry hold on." Safi smiled in embarrassment.

"It's fine and might I say your cub is very cute, different but a good different." Jager complemented.

"Thank you; that might be because she's half lion and half leopard." Safi grinned; she placed Lulu by her stomach where she could feed.

"I see so your mate must be the king of these lands." Jager assumed.

"Yep, do you have any questions you want to ask me?" Safi asked.

"Yes, do all creatures in these parts talk like you and that leopard?" Jager asked.

"Yes, did your pride have the same accent you have?" Safi asked.

"Yes, my pride is a pride of feral lions who escaped from a German circus and that's probably why I sound different to you." Jager answered.

"Feral? What does that mean?" Safi asked while cocking her head slightly.

"It means that they were originally born in captivity but they escaped to the wild." Jager answered.

"How did they learn to hunt and fend for themselves?" Safi inquired.

"Well my mother, our queen, was the only one who wasn't feral and she taught all of them how to hunt and stuff." Jager answered.

"Is that place you said they were from close to Africa?" Safi asked.

"Kinda but not on foot, they were touring in Africa and escaped before the big show." Jager answered.

"Oh, well that's all the questions I have what do you say we go meet the pride?" Safi smiled.

"Sounds good." Jager grinned back.

**A/N Sorry about the long chapter but I just couldn't stop writing! And if any of you were wondering Jager has a German accent and his name is pronounced Yag-er (It's a German name to match his German background). Please please please review, I'm beginning to think only like two people are reading this because no one really reviews or anything so you know who you are if you read and don't usually review. I just want to know who's reading this, thanks for reading though and have a great Valentine's Day! 3 **


	13. Hide And Seek

By the time Safi and Jager got back to pride rock sure enough Dau was on his way with the lionesses he'd grown close to; Kidogo was one of them. Hani nuzzled his sister and fought back tears in his eyes, he would be losing his sister again but at least this time her life wasn't in danger.

"Goodbye Hani, I love you and I promise before you or I get too old we'll come visit again." Kidogo promised her brother.

"Goodbye Kidogo, I love you too and hope to again before I die." Hani whispered; a small tear rolled down Kidogo's face.

"Don't cry." Hani smiled as he wiped the tear off his sister's face.

"Goodbye Chika, thanks for all you've done for me." Dau smiled, "I couldn't live without you."

"Don't mention it, you've transformed into a better lion; I'll give you that." Chika teased. Dau outstretched an arm, silently asking for a hug, Chika smiled and gave the large lion a hug goodbye.

"Take care Chika." Dau smiled and then turned to the cluster of lionesses who were saying goodbye, "I don't mean to rush y'all but we gotta get goin' ladies."

"Okay." Kidogo called to Dau and with one last nuzzle to her friends and family that wasn't coming with her she turned her back and left with her new pride. Jager didn't know what to do while everyone cried and said their goodbyes so he went to a small tree a few feet away and sat in the cool shade. Safi noticed this and knew what to do to make the new arrival feel welcome.

"Hey Dima, come over here." Safi called Dima.

"Is there something you need Safi?" Dima asked.

"You see that lion over there?" Safi asked while gesturing with her head in Jager's direction, "He just joined our pride this morning and he doesn't know anyone and since you're the closest person around his age and you like meeting new people I was wondering if you could go talk to him and possibly become friends with him."

"Sure, I don't mind and ooh he's cute!" Dima exclaimed as she turned her head in his direction.

"Well if I was your age he wouldn't be single if you know what I mean." Safi giggled; Dima joined in on her laugh and the two lionesses parted ways.

"Hi!" Dima greeted cheerfully. The golden lion lifted his head to look at the lioness and grinned.

"Hello." Jager smiled.

"What's your name?" Dima asked as she lay down next to him under the shady tree; she noticed that his facial features matched Simba's greatly.

"I'm Jager, and you are?" Jager asked.

"I'm Dima." Dima answered.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Jager asked noticing that she seemed to be studying his face with a shocked expression.

"Sorry, It's just you look so much like my great grandpa; he's dead now but you kinda have the same mane and facial features." Dima apologized.

"That's okay; now that you mention it you kinda look like my mother." Jager said while leaning in slightly to look at the pretty lioness's bright blue eyes.

"How?" Dima asked.

"Your eyes, sky blue like hers were." Jager answered.

"What was she like?" Dima asked.

Jager smiled as he thought about his mother, "She was very outgoing and different than the rest of my pride because she was the only true wild one, the rest of my pride came from a German circus and that's probably why I sound different to you. My father loved her for being so different, the other lionesses were quiet, reserved, and did what they were told and my mother was free spirited and did what she pleased she was also a very good mother she used to sing to me and we'd talk for hours because I always felt so comfortable around her." Jager replied.

"She sounds very nice, do you ever miss her?" Dima asked.

"Oh I miss her a lot; someday when I have a mate and cubs I'll go visit her if my father even lets me step foot on his land." Jager smiled.

"Does your dad not like you? Or is he just very territorial?" Dima asked.

"Little bit of both." Jager answered, "Anything I did was never really good enough for him and if I did one little thing wrong he and the whole pride, but my mother, would yell at me and call me stupid and stuff like that."

"That must've been hard on you, growing up in a pride like that." Dima commented.

"Well at first it was but I kinda got used to it and just brushed off the things they said." Jager shrugged.

"If something like that happened to me I'd probably become depressed; my family is prone to depression." Dima said quietly.

"Have you ever been depressed?" Jager asked.

"Well when my brother lived with our dad in a pride that wanted to kill us I was for a while; I remember crying almost every night because he was gone, silly huh?" Dima giggled.

"No, if I had any siblings and they were gone I'd fall apart. But why did your dad want to kill you and your pride?" Jager answered. Most lions would think that this was a personal question and would refuse to answer but Dima was an open book so she began to go into how her mother was raped at a young age and how Daren wanted her and Jao so he could have heirs to take over when he died.

"… And then after we won the war Kione became king." Dima finished.

"Wow so growing up you knew that your birth father was probably training your brother to kill you and your pride?" Jager asked.

"Yeah." Dima nodded.

"What ever happened to your brother?" Jager asked.

"He never listened to Daren and he escaped when he was a young adolescent with his mate and he fought in the war against the River pride and is now living here with us; you'll probably meet him sometime tonight, I'll introduce you to all my friends." Dima replied.

"That sounds good, what are they like?" Jager asked.

"Well there's Jina and she's a lot like me, outgoing, loud, likes to laugh, and she's very pretty- not that I think I'm pretty- and there's Jao, he's funny, kinda aggressive while wrestling, and he's protective of Isis so I wouldn't flirt with her if I were you, and Tavi, he's kinda bitter ever since Baya- his ex-girlfriend- left the pride lands, he's funny at times, and he likes new lions, and Taj, he's like my best friend, he's kinda quiet especially when you first meet him, he's a bit of a smartass, and he likes cubs, and last but not least there's Isis, she's got a fiery personality, she's drop dead gorgeous in my opinion, and she's also pretty easy going." Dima answered.

"They sound nice, when will I meet them?" Jager questioned.

"You can meet them now if you want." Dima suggested.

"Okay, let's go." Jager agreed. Dima led Jager behind pride rock where she figured her friends would be.

"Yeah I heard we have a new pride member." Isis said.

"From the talk I heard some of the lionesses say he's really handsome." Jina squealed. What Jina didn't know was Jager and Dima were standing right behind her as she said this.

"Um Jina." Isis whispered.

"No I mean it; one lioness said he had a gorgeous blonde mane!" Jina exclaimed. Jager and Dima were trying not to laugh so Dima made them known by letting out a giggle followed by a chuckle from Jager. Jina's eyes doubled in size as she turned around to see the new arrival behind her.

"So Jina you were saying?!" Dima teased, finding it very hard to keep from busting into a fit of laughter.

"Those lionesses were right." Jina whispered to Isis without taking her eyes off Jager.

"What was that Jina?" Dima smiled sarcastically, "Anyways this is the new "hot" pride member, Jager."

"Hello." Jager said bashfully.

"Oh don't get shy on us now." Dima teased with a playful shove. She led Jager closer to her friends and laid on the ground, Jager followed suit.

"Y'all know what I wanna do?" Dima asked as she began to play with the end of Tavi's tail.

"What?" Jao asked.

"I wanna go swimming; I don't think I've been swimming since we were cubs." Dima replied Tavi yanked his tail away and let it rest on the other side of him.

"I used to go swimming all the time when I was a cub; seems like activities like that go away as you get older doesn't it?" Jager added.

"Yeah, I agree. Like playing games I'm not really sure when that got old it's like one day we just stopped playing tag and hide and seek and stuff like that." Jina agreed.

"I never played games as a cub." Jager said.

"Why not?" Isis asked.

"The cubs in my pride were older than me and they wouldn't play games so I guess that kinda forced me to grow up quickly." Jager answered.

"Well why don't we play like cubs just for today, I mean who says we have to grow up? Growing up sounds boring." Dima suggested.

"I'm in." Jina grinned.

"Me too." Jao agreed.

"What game are we playing?" Isis smiled.

"Let's play hide and seek." Dima suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Jager smirked.

"You gonna play with us Tavi?" Dima asked.

"I guess…" Tavi groaned.

"Wow Taj, you've been so quiet." Dima giggled, "You gonna play with us too?"

"Sure, it sounds fun." Taj grinned.

"Who's it?" Jao asked.

"Who's youngest?" Dima asked.

"Ha Jina, she's it!" Tavi teased.

"Why do I have to be it?" Jina whined, "It's not my fault I'm younger than all of you!"

"Too bad!" Taj teased.

"Okay let's go to that field near the water hole and play there." Dima suggested. It sounded like a good plan so the other young lions followed her to the field, when they got there Dima made a big tree in the middle of the field of flowers, bushes, and smaller trees base. As Jina began to count the others scattered to hiding places throughout the field. Everyone had found a hiding place but Jager and he began to panic as Jina was nearing the number 50.

"Jager!" Dima called in a loud whisper. Jager's head whipped around to the large bush-tree thing near him.

"Dima? Are you in this bush thing?" Jager whispered to the leafy bush.

"Yeah climb in, there's plenty of room." Dima answered. Jager obeyed and started to climb inside the bush, it was covered in green leaves and the small branches formed an oval like shape in the space Dima was sitting. Jager climbed over a couple branches and sat beside Dima just in time to hear Jina yell 'ready or not here I come'.

"Hey look you can see out of this little hole." Jager whispered as he leaned to the side where the gap in the branches was; putting himself closer to Dima. Dima didn't mind this closeness, personal space was not a big thing for her, as Dima breathed in she tried to find out what Jager's scent was considering she would probably have to find him later. Her eyes widened as she took a breath in, he smelt really good, like the grass in a lush green meadow.

"Are you smelling me?" Jager laughed.

"Well I might have to find you later by scent if Jina hears all the noise you're making!" Dima whispered, trying not to laugh.

Jager chuckled then spoke in a quiet whisper, "She's coming."

Dima and Jager both looked out the gap slightly to watch Jina walk toward them. She looked around the bush but didn't think to look in it and moved along.

"Let's go run to base." Dima suggested.

"Okay, go quietly." Jager ordered.

"No, I'm gonna scream at the top of my lungs 'Jin we're right here come tag us' as soon as we get out." Dima teased sarcastically.

"No seriously don't." Jager said, actually believing that Dima was serious.

"Jager I'm being sarcastic, now let's go." Dima ordered. The two tiptoed from the bush and bolted to the counting tree which was also base. Dima and Jager reached the tree and started breathing heavily.

"You have a leaf in you mane." Dima said as she leaned forward to grab it. As she grabbed it and flung it to the ground her eyes met Jager's in a soft gaze. _Her eyes are so pretty, so blue, I've never seen eyes like her's before._ Jager thought to himself. The gaze didn't last long due to Isis running to base with Jina hot on her tail. Isis hardly had time to slow down as she slapped her paw against the large tree, forcing Dima to move closer to Jager. It didn't take long for Jina to finally tag someone, Jao, and the game to go on until dark.

"Phew that was a lot of fun." Tavi smiled, he was in a very good mood for once.

"Yeah, I'm sleeping good tonight!" Jina giggled. The young lions got to the den later than everyone else and chose to sleep near the entrance of pride rock instead of the back like they usually did. After looking at the stars Dima slipped in between Taj and Jager for a good night's sleep.

"Goodnight Dima, I'm glad I made friends with you." Jager smiled.

"I'm glad I met you, sweet dreams." Dima grinned back as she closed her eyes.


	14. Not So Sweet Dreams

Dima woke with a start; she had a terrible nightmare and was shaken up about it. She felt a light sweat on her coat that made her body damp. She groaned and looked out at the stars with a slight yawn; the sky was so beautiful at this time of the night. She heard a groan and a mumble at her side and smiled as she saw Jager's foot twitch in his sleep. She began to think about the dream she had. She remembered being in the pride lands but there was blood everywhere and the sky was a light red color, near the water hole her pride was fighting the river pride again only this time Daren and Dumaka were large demon-like lions with no pupils just blood red eyes. In her dream Daren had razor sharp claws and he slashed at every pride lander in sight but didn't seem to notice that Dima was standing right next to him, watching in horror, in the dream flames rose up at Daren's sides as he turned toward her and just as he was about to kill her off boom she woke up. She'd been having this dream every few weeks since the war and it scared the crap out of her. Her thoughts were interrupted by a small cry of fear from Jager. She looked to her new friend to find his eyebrows furrowed in a fearful expression and his mouth opened slightly, revealing his white fangs.

"No, get away it's not my fault I swear." Jager mumbled in his sleep.

"Jager wake up." Dima whispered while shaking the lion softly. His eyes snapped open as he gasped softly and began to breathe hard.

"What is it?" Jager asked softly.

"You were having a bad dream and mumbling in your sleep, do you want to talk about it?" Dima asked, when she was young and she had a bad dream she loved to talk to her mother about it, it made her feel better and she hoped it would make Jager feel better.

"Sure, maybe we should take a walk or something so we don't wake anyone." Jager suggested.

Dima giggled, she loved his accent and how he said words with 'th' in them funny, she flicked her tail and softly whispered, "I'll lead the way."

Dima lead the way through the pride lands, planning to go to a pretty waterfall she had discovered when she was nearing adolescence.

"So what was your dream about?" Dima started.

"Well I haven't exactly been telling the truth about why I was kicked out of my pride." Jager began.

"Go on." Dima said softly, for some reason even though no one was around she felt the need to speak softly.

"The reason I was kicked out of my pride is because my father thought I murdered someone when I didn't." Jager confessed. Dima's eyes widened as she opened her mouth to speak but she closed her mouth as Jager continued, "He was my brother and he was the favorite of the pride, he was best at everything; my father's pride and joy. I'll admit I was jealous of him but I would never kill my own brother, I had gone hunting for the pride when he went missing and when I came back his body was in front of my father's angry eyes, he wouldn't let me explain how I couldn't have done it so he took my kill and told me I'd be killed if I ever came back. The worst part is how upset my mother looked, I'll never forget her eyes she looked so disappointed and sad, I tried to tell her I didn't do it but my father struck me near my stomach so I had to run away and I never saw her again. And now I have this scar on my side from when he hit me."

"Do you keep having nightmares about it?" Dima asked as they neared the waterfall. Jager nodded and bit his lip with the memory of his painful past on his mind.

"Hey, let's forget about our past. We both have painful pasts right?" Dima asked and continued when Jager nodded. "Well it seems like you and me both won't let go of it, I keep having nightmares about my real father and that's because I don't let it go."

"You're suggesting a life of hakuna matata aren't you?" Jager asked playfully.

"Yeah, we shouldn't stress about the past let's think about the present and the future." Dima replied with a smile. The two now stood at the waterfall's edge and looked at the beautiful scene before them.

"Sounds good to me." Jager smiled. He began to slowly lean in, Dima stayed put because she wasn't sure if this meant he wanted to kiss her or not. Now he was really close, just one more inch and their lips would meet. Jager had a huge grin on his face as he slapped a paw on Dima's shoulder and pushed her into the waterfall. He knew the waterfall wasn't big enough to drown her so he thought it would be a funny joke. He laughed until tears came to his eyes and heard Dima join in on his laughter. She jumped to the grassy surface where they stood before and had half her body in and half of it out. She jumped further and put her paws around Jager's neck which sent both of them falling back into the blue water. Jager surfaced and went to a shallower end of the water and began slashing Dima. Dima fought back and jumped on his back, slashing water at him from a place where he couldn't slash her back. After a while Dima jumped out of the water, followed by Jager and she began to dry herself off Jager did the same and soon the two were only damp.

"We should get back before dawn." Jager said. "I wouldn't want your mother getting mad at you for being out after dark with an older lion."

"Thank sounds like a good idea." Dima laughed. "I had a lot of fun tonight, more than I've had in a long time."

"Me too, you're the first lioness I've ever met who likes to have me around." Jager confessed.

"Well I don't see why anyone would not want you around; you're a lot of fun." Dima said honestly.

"Thanks." Jager smiled sincerely. The two made it back to pride rock before it was dawn but Dima could tell that the sun would soon rise. As soon as she got into the den she fell asleep while Jager stayed up for a while then went to bed. In the morning Jina noticed that Dima was damp, she also noticed last night that Dima and Jager were missing. _This can only mean one thing. Last night Dima came into season and wanted to have cubs with Jager so they mated then washed each other's scent off in the water hole. It makes perfect sense! _Jina thought to herself. She decided that she would run this theory by Dima when she woke up and demand answers. For now she just decided to find Taj, Jao, and Isis because they weren't in the den sleeping. Jager awoke moments after Jina left and stretched, he noticed Tavi was also waking up and smiled a good morning to him.

"Jager can I talk to you?" Tavi asked.

"Of course, what about?" Jager asked.

"Just come with me and I'll tell you when we get somewhere where we can talk privately." Tavi ordered. He led Jager to a sunning rock that was far away from other lionesses that were already there.

"I've been noticing something going on with you and Dima, y'all seem attracted to each other." Tavi started.

"Oh well I'm sorry, do you like her or something?" Jager asked.

"No I just want to tell you to be careful, Dima's the type that likes what's new. For example when we were cubs she liked Ruko but Ruko wasn't interested then she liked me but I was with someone then after that when Taj came to our pride she liked him and spent all her time with him and now that you're here and you're new and exciting she likes you just don't get too attached; it _won't _last." Tavi warned.

"No, not Dima she wouldn't desert me and besides right now we're just friends." Jager denied as he shook his head.

"Fine don't say I didn't warn you though." Tavi smirked. He got to his paws and left Jager wondering if he should believe what he said or trust what his heart said. Dima woke up with a yawn and looked around to find no one around her. _I should go find Jina and Isis._ Dima thought. She walked to the water hole first, suspecting the girls to be there. As she got closer she saw the two girls talking.

"Hey guys." Dima smiled.

"Hey." Jina giggled, as if she knew something that she didn't. Jina and Isis both wore the same 'I know a dirty secret' smile.

"What? Why are y'all smiling at me like that?" Dima asked.

"I know what you did last night!" Jina exclaimed.

"Hey Jina honey, a little louder I don't think they heard you in northern Africa! And what did I do exactly last night?" Dima asked.

"We know you snuck out with Jager so you could have his cubs and that the reason you were damp this morning is because you washed his scent off in the water hole!" Jina squealed.

"As much as I'd love to have his cubs," Dima joked sarcastically, "that's not what happened."

Isis and Jina shared looks of disappointment. "Then what were you doing?" Jina asked, still disappointed.

"We went for a walk because Jager had a nightmare and I wanted to talk to him about it." Dima explained. "That's all."

"Oh." Jina and Isis murmured in unison.

"Sorry to disappoint you guys." Dima giggled. "Wait y'all don't think I would be whore enough to sleep with a guy I've only know for a day do you?!"

"What? No! Well…" Jina trailed off. Dima growled at the two and hit them both in the face with one unsheathed paw swipe. Isis and Jina fell slightly to the side from the force of Dima's paw and cried out in pain. Dima had really hit them; both lionesses had claw marks on the side of their faces which started to bleed a little. With one last snarl Dima stormed off. _How could they think that?! I'm not trashy!_ Dima growled to herself. She walked aimlessly through the pride lands in a rage and didn't notice when she walked straight into the elephant graveyard. She heard two hyenas cackle but hardly paid any attention to them.

"Well what do we have here?" The female hyena smiled.

"It's a little lioness, all alone." The male answered.

"Back off, I'm _not _in the mood!" Dima roared.

"Ooh a feisty one!" The male smirked. The female let out a cackle and jumped at Dima. Dima effortlessly grabbed her by the throat and threw her at the male hyena with both paws while standing on her hind legs. The hyenas yelped and smacked into each other. The male grew angry and attacked Dima. She defended herself as well as she could, although she was bitten a few times she managed to snap both hyenas' necks. She slowly walked back to the pride lands and bled a little out of her leg and neck. She walked to her privet waterfall, not many knew that there was a waterfall here so she always went here to be alone. She began to clean out her wound on her leg with water and noticed that she was also bitten on her back-side area, it was bleeding much more than the others and she didn't know why it didn't hurt that bad. She cleaned out the wounds on her leg and back but was having trouble with the one on her neck, she couldn't see it but she felt the pain and saw the blood that had dripped down to her chest.

"You okay?" A voice asked, by scent and sound Dima knew it was Jager.

"Fine." Dima answered irritably.

"Why are you bleeding?" He asked.

"I wondered too far and ended up in the elephant graveyard and got attacked by some hyenas." Dima replied.

"You need help with that?" Jager asked, meaning her neck wound.

"Yeah." Dima said. Jager sat beside Dima and licked her wound then dipped his paw in the water and rubbed her wound.

"Why do you seem so mad?" Jager asked but not unkindly.

"Isis and Jina accused me of being a slut." Dima answered flatly.

"They really said you were a slut?" Jager asked in disbelieve.

"They didn't literally say it but they meant it." Dima snarled.

"What _did_ they say?" Jager asked.

"Jina woke up last night and noticed we were gone and since we were both wet in the morning she assumed that I came into season and begged to have your cubs, so apparently we snuck off together, mated, and then washed each other's scent off in the water hole." Dima growled. "I just don't know how they can think I would sleep with you after only knowing you for a day, I'm _not _a slut! I've never even had a boyfriend!"

"Calm down Dima, they just jumped to conclusions. What did you say to them?" Jager asked.

"I told them that I was pissed that they thought I was a whore and then I kinda slapped them and stormed off." Dima replied.

"You hit them!?" Jager yelled.

"Well I was angry and I just wanted them to regret implying that I was a trashy slut!" Dima whined. Jager consoled Dima for about an hour and then the two talked for a while longer.

About a week passed and Dima didn't talk to Jina or Isis in that time and quite frankly Jina and Isis were too scared to talk to Dima. Lulu had started to talk and could put sentences together; she became good friends with Seaver considering they were both outcasts. Meena, Kovu, and Malik didn't like Seaver and Lulu they looked different and acted weird and the young cubs and puppy didn't get along.

"Come on let's go play!" Meena shouted. She ran out of the den and was followed by Kovu, Malik, and Lulu and Seaver trotted behind them.

"Ew, we don't play with freaks!" Meena shouted.

"Yeah go away!" Kovu agreed.

"Why are you guys so mean?" Seaver asked meekly.

"Why do you still drink milk from your 'mommy'?!" Kovu retorted, putting extra emphasis on mommy because everyone but Seaver knew that Chika wasn't his real mom.

"She is my real mom! I told you once I told you a thousand times, Chika is my mother!" Seaver yelled, close to tears.

"You gonna cry?" Meena mocked while sticking out a lip.

"Stop it! You're being a meanie; just leave me and Seaver alone!" Lulu spoke up.

"Oh can it half and half!" Kovu teased.

"Come on Seaver, let's just go." Lulu said quietly. Seaver nodded and followed Lulu with his tail between his legs. Meena and Kovu laughed as the two misfits passed them and Kovu picked up a small rock and threw it at the little puppy. Seaver let out a yelp and ran with Lulu hot on his tail. In a small deserted den Chika and Buru sat patiently. Chika let out a groan of pain and smiled for she knew what it was.

"You ready Chika?" Buru smiled.

"Yes." Chika smiled.

**A/N so what do y'all think? Sorry I've been lazy with the chapters but most of you have been lazy with the reviews! Except kora22 **** by the way check out his stories, they're great!**


	15. Party In The Pride Lands

Chika's face was twisted with pain as another contraction came. She'd already given birth to the first two cubs, the first a girl and a second a boy. The third was being difficult and Chika had been in labor for a while now.

"You can do this honey, come on keep pushing." Buru encouraged his mate. Chika let out a large breath as the contraction went away.

"How much more do I have to get out?" Chika asked weakly.

"I can see her little belly." Buru smiled, "I think you can get her out at the next contraction."

"Okay, I'll try." Chika grinned. Pretty soon the next contraction came and Chika gave birth to her last cub. It was a girl, as expected, and she was a runt. The oldest was another girl and had a brown pelt like Buru, grey eyes, a black tail tip, rounded cheeks, and a pink pride lander nose. Chika and Buru had given her the name Riah. The boy, who was born second, looked very much like his older sister, Riah; he was the same shade of brown, with blue green eyes, a black tail tuft and mane tuft, a brown out lander nose, and fluffy cheeks. Chika and Buru decided to call him Kivuli. The last born was a runt. She had a light peach coat like her mother, orange eyes, rounded cheeks, a blonde tail tip, and a black out lander nose. Chika wanted to name her Enya so Buru agreed. Chika and Buru sat in the small den while the small cubs nursed and soon fell fast asleep.

"We should head back and let the pride meet the new arrivals, don't you think?" Chika asked.

"Yeah, I'll take Riah and Kivuli you carry Enya." Buru nodded. The new parents walked with their jaws full to pride rock and managed not to wake the little ones.

"Mom! You're not pregnant anymore!" Dima exclaimed as she trotted over with Jager at her heels.

"Uh-huh, come meet your new siblings Hun." Chika smiled around her new cub. Dima came over to her mother, father, and new siblings. Chika, Buru, Dima, and Jager lay down to see the new cubs. Dima held the three cubs in her paws and gave them lots of kisses. Dima looked up and caught a glimpse of Jager staring at the cubs with a warm smile. Dima met eyes with him and grinned.

"You wanna hold one?" Dima asked with a smile.

"If it's alright with your mother." Jager answered.

"I don't mind." Chika smiled at Jager. Jager chose the cub closest to him, which happened to be Enya and picked her up carefully. She was so tiny compared to Jager's large paw, he was afraid he would hurt her by the slightest touch. Enya woke up with a small yawn, she looked up at the large lion with a confused expression; he was not the lion she saw at her birth place.

"Hello love, did you have a nice nap?" Jager cooed. Enya smiled up at the golden lion and tried to crawl over to his chest but she was still too small to get very far so Jager brought her back to rest on one of his paws. Jager pulled his other paw over his eyes and began to play peek-a-boo.

"I think she likes you." Buru chuckled, "I don't think we've met; I'm Buru, Dima's father."

"Nice to meet you sir, I'm Jager." Jager introduced.

"Now you're that new guy all the lionesses are drooling over right?" Buru teased.

"That would be me." Jager chuckled.

"Buru stop, you're making the boy uncomfortable!" Chika scolded, but not in anger.

"Oh calm down honey, I'm just having a little fun with him." Buru smirked.

"I'm Chika by the way, Dima's mother." Chika introduced, remembering she hadn't fully introduced herself yet.

"Nice to meet you, I see the resemblance between you and Dima." Jager commented.

"Yeah, they're both shrimps!" Buru joked with a chuckle.

"Oh shut up! It ain't my fault you tower over everyone!" Chika growled as she playfully pushed her mate.

"Well we'll just let you two tease each other in peace, but congrats on the new cubs mom." Dima smiled as she handed the two cubs back to her parents.

"Good we don't want you here!" Buru teased, "See you later honey."

"It was nice meeting you two, congrats on the cute little ones." Jager grinned as he handed Enya to Chika.

"Nice meeting you too, have fun with whatever it is you kids do." Chika waved and began grooming her three cubs.

"So what do you wanna do?" Jager asked as he began to walk away with Dima.

"Let's go take a walk around the border." Dima suggested. Jager and Dima walked past the western border when they heard singing well it was more like yodeling but altogether Dima liked it.

"Let's go check it out; it's coming from over there!" Dima squealed while pointing away from the pride lands.

"Alright." Jager agreed skeptically. Dima trotted to where the music came from and Jager trotted by her side. They got to the source of the music and found a pack of wild dogs sing but they weren't the same wild dogs that assisted them in the war. The pack was huge; about 40 dogs were dancing and singing around a fire.

"Whoa what is this?" Dima asked the nearest wild dog. It was a female and she was very pretty.

"It's the full moon festival, it lasts for three days and ends on the night of the full moon today is the first day. And it happens every 4 full moons at a random place pre decided each year." The female answered.

"So these are a few different packs?" Dima asked.

"Of course! There's like 60 dogs here!" The female laughed, "Come on, stay for a while it'll be a blast. There's food over there, music, a bunch of random dogs you can talk to, and it's a lot of fun even if you're a lion."

"Jager do you wanna stay?" Dima said while looking up at her tall friend.

"Sure it sounds pretty fun." Jager nodded. Dima and Jager went in the middle of the crowd and danced like the wild dogs, with their own style added. The music of the wild dogs was different; it was like yodeling and in another language, probably Swahili. Dima caught on with the music and sang the choruses of a few that weren't too complicated. She swung her hips around with a natural ability like she was born knowing how to dance. Jager was a pretty good dancer too and he wasn't afraid to dance either. His dancing however had more head movement while Dima's had more hip movement. Dima had run into an ocelot and a fox at the festival and had fun dancing with them.

"What's your name?" The fox asked she had to yell because of how loud the singing was.

"I'm Dima, what're your names?" Dima yelled back.

"I'm Lala and this is Kassa." The fox, named Lala introduced.

"Those are pretty names, are y'all staying here in the pride lands?" Dima wondered out loud.

"Yeah, we're planning to hang around for a while." Lala nodded, Dima noticed that she had a jersey accent.

"That's cool, I live at pride rock, there's a small cave in the side of it that no one uses when we're all danced out I could show you where it is and y'all could stay there." Dima suggested.

"That'd be great love." Kassa smiled, she two had an accent, a Latin one.

"Oh by the way this is my friend Jager." Dima introduced. She turned around to point at Jager to see him singing and dancing, not paying attention.

"Jager." Dima said, trying to get his attention.

"Ya?" Jager asked.

"This is Kassa and Lala; they'll be staying in the pride lands for a while." Dima informed Jager.

"Oh nice to meet you ladies." Jager grinned.

"Nice to meet you too," Lala smiled politely then whispered to Dima, "Hey Dee your boyfriend is cute, you know for a lion."

"Oh, no he's not my boyfriend; he's just a good friend." Dima said while shaking her head and laughing slightly.

"You know everyone assumes that." Jager chuckled; he found it amusing not embarrassing.

"I don't know I'm just getting this vibe between you two, I'm assuming Lala felt it too." Kassa mused while scratching her chin.

"Yeah I'm way aheada ya." Lala agreed, "Sorry are we embarrassing you two?"

"Not really, I'm used to it. What about you Jager?" Dima asked while looking up at her tall friend.

"I'm used to it too." Jager smirked.

"Well let's spend less time standing around and talking and more time dancing and talking." Kassa suggested.

"Sounds like a good plan." Dima agreed. With that the four new friends sang and danced well into the night. After a while Dima suggested they head home and come back tomorrow. The others agreed considering they were tired from dancing and singing their hearts out all night. Dima led Kassa and Lala to the small den that could fit two lions Dima's size and the four new friends agreed they'd meet up tomorrow around lunch time, relax for a while, then go to the party. Jager and Dima snuck in the den to find an anger pair of parents waiting for them at the entrance.

"Follow me." Chika ordered to Dima. Chika led Dima to the waterhole leaving Buru to deal with Jager.

"You come with me." came Buru's deep voice. Jager gulped and followed Buru to a large tree in the west. They walked in silence and Jager could hear Buru's soft growling. When he stopped he began to circle Jager, looking him over.

"Walk to that tree." Buru growled.

"Excuse me?" Jager asked in confusion. _Why does he want me to walk to that tree?_

Buru snarled. "Are you questioning me?!" He barked.

"No sir." Jager answered quickly. He did as he was told and walked to the tree calmly. When he reached the tree he turned to Buru who now wore a 'thank god' smile.

"Okay good." He smiled.

"What?" Jager asked but instantly became afraid that Buru would snarl and ask if he was questioning him.

"Well you're now walking like you just mated with my daughter and that's all I was really worried about and I'm not saying Dima is easy or anything but I've been a young lion before and I know my thoughts weren't focused on the outcome of the things I did." Buru explained.

"Don't worry sir, I know a lot of young lions say this to a lioness's father but I swear I wouldn't disrespect your daughter like that." Jager vowed.

"You seem like a good kid so I'll trust you but next time you and Dima are going to be out late at least tell us where you're going and when you think you'll be back okay?" Buru suggested.

"Alright and I'm really sorry about being out so late, I know if I had a daughter I'd be mad if she was out late with a lion." Jager apologized.

"I guess it's okay, where were y'all anyways?" Buru asked in curiosity.

"We were at this party that some wild dogs were having, there was singing and dancing. It was a lot of fun. We met these girls there, an ocelot and a fox, and we agreed to meet up tomorrow and go back if that's okay with you and Chika." Jager answered.

"I don't know I'd have to talk to Chika, she's less of a push over and she may or may not be very angry. She should be okay though; Dima's good at manipulating her." Buru winked.

"I can easily believe that," Jager chuckled, "she talked me into giving her my lunch and hunting again for myself."

"She can talk a monkey into handing her his bananas." Buru smirked, "let's get back they might be there already."

"Dima what the hell were you thinking?!" Chika snarled, "do you know how many things could've happened to you?!"

"Rape, kidnap, murder, injury of some sort-"

"Don't get smart with me!" Chika roared.

"I was just answering your question!" Dima shrugged.

"Where were you two anyways?!" Chika growled.

"At a party near the border and mom we weren't even alone, we met some friends there that were going to be staying here for a while." Dima insisted.

"Why didn't you at least tell me and Buru where you were going and how long you'd be out?" Chika asked with a softer tone.

"We thought we'd be back by dark because the original plan was to take a walk around the border but then we heard the party and got carried away. Look mom I'm sorry for making you and dad worry, I promise every time I go somewhere I'll tell you all the details so I no one will have to worry. Does that make you feel better?" Dima asked, acting sweeter than a strawberry.

"Yes, I was worried sick but it's only because I love you." Chika murmured as she nuzzled her daughter.

"I love you too mom and you know no one could cause me any harm," Dima grinned, "I was raised tough because my mom is."

"You got that right." Chika grinned back.

"So mom do you think I can go back to the festival tomorrow?" Dima asked with pleading eyes.

"Fine." Chika grumbled.

"Yay! Thank you mom." Dima squealed while nuzzling Dima.

"You're welcome, come on let's get you to bed." Chika smirked. Dima and Chika walked back to pride rock to see that Buru and Jager were already there, sleeping.

"How was the talk with your mom?" Jager whispered as Dima lay down next to him.

"I'm off the hook and we're going back to the party tomorrow." Dima smiled.

"Great now let's get some rest so we won't be tired for tomorrow." Jager suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Dima agreed. Jager and Dima slept until about midday then went to the sunning rocks where Kassa and Lala were supposed to meet Dima and Jager.

"Hey y'all." Dima smiled as she saw Kassa and Lala laying on a rock.

"Hey chica." Kassa greeted.

"That's my mother's name." Dima laughed.

"Oh well it's Spanish for girl." Kassa shrugged.

"I see." Dima grinned.

"Do you guys want me to catch some lunch for us?" Jager asked.

"Sure doll." Lala smiled. Dima sat down as Jager set out to fetch some lunch.

"You know Dee you should really make a move with him, he ain't gonna wait forever." Lala advised as she began to groom her paw.

"Oh come on he doesn't even like me like that." Dima argued.

"Whatever." Kassa chimed in, "If you don't pounce I will."

Dima laughed she knew Kassa was joking by the way she said it and thought maybe she should make a move with Jager.

Isis and Jina sat at a sunning rock not too far away from Dima and gossiped.

"Do you miss Dima?" Isis asked.

"Kinda but I don't miss her bratty 'one way my way' attitude, come to think of it she's really bossy." Jina replied.

"Yeah I agree, I want Jao to go talk to her but he says she won't listen to him so it's no use I mean if I had a brother and he wanted me to be a bit nicer to his girlfriend I'd listen." Isis grumbled.

"Yeah but we shouldn't bitch about her, it's kinda rude." Jina said.

"Well it's kinda rude that she hit us!" Isis argued.

"I guess you're right but remember what Safi said about turning the other cheek?" Jina asked.

"Yeah but I don't wanna turn the other cheek." Isis grumbled.

"Okay," Jina shrugged. After that the two turned their conversation to topics with less anger.

Jager arrived to the rock with an antelope and dropped it for everyone to feast on.

"Mm antelope is my favorite." Kassa said, licking her lips, "I can never hunt it myself because I'm too small but I love feeding off of it after another predator is done with it."

"Me too." Lala agreed. The four friends dug into their lunch then decided to go to the party for a day of singing, dancing, and fun.

**A/N what did you think of this chapter? Sorry for taking so long to upload I had major writers block! I'll try to update sooner with the next chapter. Goodbye for now lovelies!**


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